Shiro Yasha
by TacoReaper
Summary: AU Crossover. How will the events in Ba Sing Se play out when an old enemy of Iroh lends his eccentric helping hand? PLEASE READ & REVIEW.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Demon's Rising, Part 1

In a relatively distant part of the Earth Kingdom, a tall man in his early thirties with waist-length brown hair was walking towards the town over to see if the Fire Nation armies had clashed with the Earth Kingdom armies there once again. He was sad to see that his assumptions were proved to be true by all of the corpses left in the wake of the town's destruction. His sadness went out to all of the fallen, not just those soldiers of the Kingdom; death in war was always gruesome and never pleasant, which is why the man's sympathies went out to the fallen Nation warriors as well.

He was not expecting to see a survivor eating his meal amongst the deceased.

This survivor was a young boy, roughly nine to ten years old, in a tattered old blue hakama and clutching a sheathed katana in his left hand while feeding himself with his right. The most outstanding features belonging to the child was his wavy, silver-colored hair and his dark red eyes. These very same eyes took in the man's walk and the sword at his side, and he clutched his own sword tighter.

"Some folks often say that only a demon would be eating food among the dead with such calmness," said the man. By now, the man had come within arms length of the child while continuing to take in the boy's appearance. "They would say the same of one who has red eyes and silver hair." This statement only served to make the boy more suspicious of this man. "On the other hand, you're too cute to be a demon." As he said this, the man put his hand on the boy's head and ruffled his hair. This prompted the boy to move back and place his hands on the sword's hilt in a threatening manner, causing the man to frown.

"Is that why you were eating on top of the corpses; to protect yourself? Is it also why you're carrying that sword?" The man took a few steps back and held his own sheathed katana in his hand. The boy braced himself for an attack, but was surprised when the man tossed the sword in his direction and caught it while dropping his own sword in the process.

"Take my sword, and if you're interested, come over to my dojo to learn how to use that sword properly. You see, a sword's purpose isn't for defending your life; it's for defending your soul."

Brow furrowed in contemplation and awe, the child stood there for roughly fourteen seconds before following the man on the road. This brought a smile to the man's face and warmth in his heart before realizing he had no idea what to call the boy. He turned his head and said "Shouyo."

The boy looked upwards in confusion.

"That's my name; Shouyo." Pleased by the comprehension filling the boy's face, he promptly asked "What's your name?" He was going to let the conversation drop when he saw the boy's shoulders tense, but the man now known as Shouyo was rewarded with an answer.

"Gintoki."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Crazy Meetings

It was too much.

After everything he had been through: fighting the Avatar and his two Water Tribe tag-a-longs, dealing with being banished from his home for _three ****ing years_, nearly getting blown up by an arrogant admiral, invading the North Pole, facing his insane sister, watching uncle fight off Earth Kingdom troops in a _loin cloth_; none of these things prepared him for the torture he was currently enduring.

"Nephew! Look! Custom-made Earth Kingdom teapots with polished wood!"

Agreeing to go shopping with his uncle may have been one of the worst decisions of Zuko's life, especially since most of the shopping they did today concerned Iroh's favorite pastime; tea-making and tea-drinking.

"_Agni, give me strength."_

"Uncle," Zuko growled from clenched teeth, "We are _refugees_ in the _Lower Ring_ of _Ba Sing Se_. I highly doubt that tea is going to make our lives any easier here, especially since we don't have jobs."

Iroh was now sporting a look like someone had kicked his dog-cat into oncoming traffic.

"Nephew, I am shocked. Have you been sleeping all this time while I made tea for you? Tea makes everything better; especially when coming to a new place."

"Uncle, you said the same thing about tea helping you stay calm."

From the abashed look on Iroh's face, it was clear even to Zuko that he (Iroh) had fabricated that lesson on the spot as an excuse to drink tea.

"Never mind." Rubbing his forehead, a practice he had perfected to help himself deal with all the crap in his life, Zuko decided to talk some sense into his Uncle.

Good luck, Zuko.

"The Lower Ring is really crowded, Uncle," Zuko said with a grimace. "We'll be lucky to find a job that allows us to work in the same building, which is why we need to _focus_."

"B-b-b-b….this young lady has _three pounds _worth of _Jasmine tea_!"

"Which we can buy after we get a job that allows us to pay for that price!"

Now Mako ran her shop with dignity; the fact that her sign still said **Earth Defense Army Shop** spoke words about how proud she was to make a decent living in the Lower Ring. However, these two customers were really grating on her nerves and she was just about ready to toss them out, no matter how bad off they seemed to be with the old man's supposed helplessness and that young man's scar.

That's when she saw the perfect distraction to get the bickering nephew and uncle out of her shop/home.

"Hello Master. Are you here to buy anything today? I see you brought your friends with you."

This dialogue distracted Zuko and Iroh enough to turn and look at who Mako was talking to.

There were three figures in the doorway, one that was taller than the other two, but all three of them had the same get-up.

Said get-up included orange-colored gloves, full-body costumes covered with fake fur, and a large goofy fox head hiding their features. And each of them was holding a sign that said "Freaky Fox Trot Club, Limited Free Membership." In fact, the only reason Mako recognized one of them is because only this particular man would have the shamelessness to dress up for advertisement. Then again, it was his job as a _yorozuya_.

The taller one froze when he caught the two men in his sights, but slowly relaxed and began to speak.

"Hello, are you interested in free membership to The Freaky Fox Trot Club? To enter is free, but you have to cough up dough every time after that."

Naturally, Zuko was repulsed at the offer, and expressed his disgust with a fearsome frown. Iroh, on the other hand, only smiled politely and spoke.

"No thank you, kind sir. Though I am wondering were we could find a job?"

Zuko turned and looked at his uncle in shock.

"Uncle!" he hissed, "What makes you think that people dressed like _that_ are going to get us a _respectable_ job?"

"Patience, nephew," Iroh said with reassuring grin. "If they are favorable enough to Miss Mako, I am sure they will be able to find us a steady job."

"You should listen to the old man, boar-q-pine boy."

They turned to look at the speaker, who was the smallest of the three, and undoubtedly female, caught their attention not only because of the rudeness laced through the statement, but because the speaker had a definitive _Fire Nation accent_.

The second-tallest spoke, "Oi, Kagura-chan, you shouldn't be so rude to people we've only just met."

"But that scruffy guy was being mean, and he's wasting my lunch time."

"YOU HAD LUNCH TEN MINUTES AGO!"

"Ah, but this is second lunch."

"Who's ever heard of second lunch? Is this just an excuse for every time you've eaten all the food in the house?"

"Not my fault you're so cheap."

"Cheap? Why you…"

"Shut up."

This last statement came from the tallest of the group, a male like the second-tallest, but obviously the one in charge. Something in the voice was _familiar_ to Iroh somehow, but he couldn't seem to place it.

"Oi, old man. What kinda job are ya looking for?"

Pleased that this somewhat familiar young man was giving him an answer, Iroh decided to make their case as refugees.

"Very well. My name is Mushi and this is my nephew Lee. We lost our home in the war, and decided to come to Ba Sing Se for a new life. As for a job, would it be too much to ask for a job as a tea-maker?"

Zuko slapped his forehead. _Of course_ the dream job Iroh was looking for involved tea.

"Sure, old man. Come over to my place at sunset and I'll tell you where you can find a tea job. Here's my card."

Grabbing the card from the fox-garbed man, Zuko looked at the card which stated "Yorozuya Gin-chan, for Any Job You Have." Below this statement was an address located elsewhere in the Lower Ring.

"_What have we gotten ourselves into?"_

The _Yorozuya_ office so happened to be located on top of a small bar managed by a cantankerous old woman (who Iroh complimented with ease) and a woman in her mid-thirties with a face that looked like it had been smashed a few times. After being rudely pointed upstairs, Iroh and Zuko came to the front doors of the office.

"Uncle, are you sure…"

"Zuko, if we are to find a job in this city, we have to learn how to trust at least a few of those who inhabit it. What better place to start than one who does odd jobs for a living?"

With his nephew grumbling behind him, Iroh approached the door and knocked three times sharply but politely.

The door was opened by a young man about fifteen years of age with an average face, short black hair and brown eyes, as well as large glasses resting on his nose.

"Ah, Misters Mushi and Lee. Thank you for coming over to see us…"

"Oi, Shinpachi, are those two losers here already?"

Said "losers" turned and looked at a fourteen-year-old girl with red hair done up in buns on both sides of her head, with large blue eyes, a red formal dress and pants, and an umbrella resting over her shoulders. Not to mention her pale, almost translucent skin.

Zuko was once again repulsed by the girl, who could only be Kagura, who was currently picking her nose. On the other hand, both he and Iroh were thinking the same thing.

"_One from the __Yato__ clan?"_

I see you met Shinpachi and Kagura. That's good. It'll make this reunion smoother."

The third and final speaker was by far more unique than the other two cohorts. He wore a black shirt and pants with a white and blue battle kimono fitted over one arm and left free from the other arm. The most distinguishing characteristics about him, however, was his wavy, silver hair and dark red eyes.

Iroh's jaw dropped and he paled out of shock.

"Uncle, what's wrong? Why are you…"

The Dragon of the West finally collected himself and spoke.

"So it's you…_Shiroyasha_…"


	3. Chapter 3

_**Note: Yorozuya = general merchant; Sensei = teacher; hakama = type of Japanese clothing; Katana = type of Japanese sword; Baka = idiot; -chan = Japanese honorific used for those you find endearing; Shiroyasha = white demon; Dojo = training room/house; Bokuto = wooden sword.**_

_Chapter Three: Demon's Rising, Part 2_

_:::Massive Flashback Surprise!:::_

_Shouyo smiled as he drank his tea in his room._

_It had been three years since he had found Gintoki at the war zone and brought him to his dojo. At first, the boy had trouble interacting with the other orphans with his withdrawn behavior and strange appearance, but he had managed to be at ease with the other children and even made fast friends amongst them._

_He often wondered if that was such a good thing._

_Gintoki had heralded his friendship with fellow orphan peers Sakamoto (a ridiculously optimistic child), Katsura (a studious and obedient boy), and Takatsuki (a silent child who rarely spoke but held Shouyo-sensei in high regard) by giving poor Katsura a new nickname: "Zura". This won over Sakamoto's friendship, Takasugi's interest, and Katsura's ire, which led to the four boys spending most of their free time together._

_Such interactions made Shouyo both wish he was younger and glad he was an adult._

"_Come on, Zura, I won that last kendo match and you know it. Now fork over the candy you promised me."_

"_Zura ja nai, Katsura da! (It's not Zura, it's Katsura) And you only won that fight because Todo sneezed at the last minute."_

"_Yare, yare, but I had him on the ropes the entire time."_

"_Still, you won that fight because he was ill; there's no honor in such a fight, and therefore you __don't__ deserve this candy."_

"_Actually, I have to agree with Gintoki on this one, Zura; Todo's illness aside, Gin won fair and square. Todo shouldn't have been fighting at all."_

"_Taka! I thought you were going to back me up on this! And it's Katsura!"_

"_I lost my match today just like that; just as I was going to land the finishing blow, I tripped and fell to defeat. It must have been a beetle-spider or a rock that tripped me."_

"_YOU TRIPPED OVER YOUR OWN DAMN FEET, SAKAMOTO-BAKA!"_

_He would have to talk to those three about their choice of words._

"_Gintoki, Sakamoto, Katsura, Takasugi; the sun is setting. It's time to come in."_

_With a few mumbles of protest from Takasugi and Gintoki, and disappointed sighs from Sakamoto and Katsura, they nonetheless obeyed with a simultaneous "Hai, Shouyo-sensei!". Despite all of the ruckus those four caused daily, it warmed his heart to see those he saw as his sons address him with such respect. If only they would act like that with everyone else._

_A man could dream, couldn't he?_

"_Come along, we still have to read a passage from Haman Wei's poetry, don't we?"_

"_Ooh, ooh, can we read the one about the white elephant-mammoths? That one's my favorite!"_

"_Why do you persist in liking that crap?"_

"_Maa, Takasugi, don't be so mean. You should be more sociable and funny, like Kintoki over here."_

"_It's not Kintoki, it's Gintoki, Sakamoto-baka! And don't drag me into your arguments!"_

_Chuckling, Shouyo opened the door for them since they seemed rather engrossed in their 'conversation.' He looked to the west to see if the sun had gone down any more since the conversation began._

_He stiffened._

_The small smoke trail coming towards their home was __not__ a good sign._

"_Boys, find the rest of your classmates and hide. __Now__."_

_The four boys stiffened at his tone. The last time they heard Shouyo-sensei speak like that was when a troop of Fire Nation soldiers had passed by their dojo/home; and while no one was hurt, the insults the soldiers had thrown at them as well as how tense Shouyo was at the time taught them enough about when to __absolutely__ obey sensei's orders whenever Fire troops came by._

_This time was no exception._

_As the four boys rushed into the household to find their fellows, Shouyo picked up his sheathed katana and rested it firmly at his waist while waiting at the front door for the unwelcome intruders._

_Ten minutes after Shouyo had ordered the children to hide, the Fire Nation troops had reached the dojo. At the head of roughly one-hundred soldiers stood three foreboding figures. One of them had the decorations of a general and stood at the front. The man to his right bore the decorations of a lieutenant and possessed ridiculous sideburns, while the man to his left was tall with a scarred face, wide-brimmed hat, bloodthirsty expression, and gray hair going down to his back._

_Shouyo tensed even more and waited for them to make the first move._

_The general stepped forward. "I am General Shu of the Fire Nation. I have been ordered to locate a suitable base for further military operations and this spot fulfills the requirements. You are to leave this area or suffer the consequences."_

_His eyes now narrowed, Shouyo spoke with a tone that hid his indignation. "Exactly how does a small dojo in the mountains provide any benefits as a station for your troops?"_

_The lieutenant made a movement in his feet suggesting aggression._

"_Zhao…"_

_Hearing the threatening tone of his general, Zhao backed down and glared viciously at Shouyo._

"_I have many orphans living with me here; how do you suggest that I move all of them from the home they live in when there's no other suitable homes near here?"_

_The tall man (if he was a man) spoke with an unsettling grin._

"_Gee, Shu, it sounds like he's defying your request. You know what that means?"_

_Shu sighed and raised his hand._

"_Men; ATTACK!"_

_As the soldiers rushed the house, Shouyo drew his katana from his sheath and cut down six of them in seconds. He backed into the dojo waiting for the soldiers to come in one by one to kill them off one by one. However, his plans were disrupted when the impatient lieutenant set the dojo's doors on fire, allowing for more men to enter the building at a time. This was not looking good for Shouyo, and eventually there were too many for him to fight by himself._

_At that moment, a crowd of children broke through one of the doors holding bokutos and rushed the soldiers, knocking them on their heads allowing their sensei to kill them._

_While he was visibly upset that his orders had been ignored, Shouyo decided to conserve his energy and focus on driving away the present threat._

_Unfortunately for them, this was when the general, lieutenant, and the bloodthirsty man decided to join the fray._

_Using their Firebending, Shu and Zhao managed to kill a few children while burning others in the process. The bloodthirsty man made a move to kill more students with his sword, but he was stopped by Shouyo's blade before any more blood was spilt. Shu grimaced at the scene._

"_Since you have reacted with violence at my order, I have no choice but to execute everyone in this room for defying the order of the glorious Fire Nation."_

_At the head of the surviving students, Gintoki, Sakamoto, Katsura, and Takasugi twisted their faces with rage. __Shu__ had been the one to start the fighting! How __dare__ he lay the blame on the people he attacked! Glorious nation __indeed__!_

"_All of you! Leave!"_

_They turned to look at their sensei in shock. Before any of them could raise any objections, Shouyo continued his sentence._

"_Some already have died! I will not allow any more of you to die while I can prevent it! Now go!"_

_The students hesitated._

"_GO!"_

_They ran for the east exit, only a few of them daring to look behind them._

"_Do as you like; it won't matter. After I kill you, those brats __**will**__ be next."_

_Shouyo turned to glare at the bloodthirsty man._

"_And I…will __**not**__…let that __**happen!**__"_

_An hour after Shouyo had ordered them to flee, the remaining children came back to the dojo with Gintoki and his friends leading them only to find a horrific sight._

_It had been burned down._

_There was little left standing from the fire, only a few stray wooden structures that now bore only a passing resemblance to what was once part of a house. And the worst part was…_

_Shouyo-sensei was nowhere to be seen._

_They spread out individually, desperately searching and calling out for the man they all viewed as a father. Until a strangled cry of despair alerted them to their teacher's location._

_Gintoki was holding the body of their teacher with tears streaming down his face like a waterfall. Shouyo's body had been cut through viciously, as evidenced by the gashes that were deep enough to reach his spine._

"_S-Sho…SHOUYO-SENSEI!"_

_Gintoki's agonizing cry brought tears to the rest of the boys, even the stoic Takasugi and the optimistic Sakamoto wept deeply for their loss._

_After burying him in the area where the gardens once bloomed, they all sat down to hopefully contain the grief they were feeling._

"_Let's hunt them down."_

_The rest of the children save Gintoki turned to look at Takasugi in shock._

"_Are you crazy?"_

_The looks of shock were now transferred to Sakamoto as he stood up speaking further._

"_We barely stood even a chance against their soldiers how are we even going to kill them, much less fight them?"_

"_We owe it to…"_

"_He has a point, Taka. We wouldn't last a chance against them if we went after them now…"_

"_Shut up, Katsura! Don't you feel the same we all do? Don't you want them to pay?"_

"_Yes, but not if we don't stand a chance in hell!"_

"_Then what do you suggest we…"_

"_We'll get stronger."_

_All of their heads turned to Gintoki as he put his idea out in the open._

"_We'll get stronger; stronger than any common Bender, strong enough to kill an entire troop of Firebenders, and then…"_

_His cold, crimson gaze locked onto his fellow orphans with palpable intensity._

"_**We'll make them pay."**_

_:::Time-skip 8 years:::_

_Ba Sing Se Siege: Day 556_

_General Iroh was conflicted in his mind._

_He had been holding the siege for over five-hundred days, and today was the same as it had been ever since it started; fight, conquer, and attempt to bring down the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se. Today, he was leading his men once again into another confrontation with the Earth Kingdom forces, hoping that the ferocious battle yesterday had tired them out significantly._

_No such luck._

"_General!"_

_He turned to see one of the cadets running towards him with a sense of urgency and utmost fear._

_He sincerely hoped it was because of the Earth Kingdom's numbers._

"_**He**__ is here!"_

_Very, very bad luck._

_Ever since the siege had started, his army had been set upon not only by Earthbenders and other troops, they had also been attacked by a large group of trained swordsmen self-proclaimed as the Joi (Nationalism) Army. He often caught a glimpse of the four men leading this faction. All of them wore white headbands, led by men no older than 21 years of age. One had wavy brown hair obscured by a helmet; another had long black hair and green eyes, and the third had short, messy black hair with sharp green eyes._

_It was the fourth one, however, that every Fire Nation soldier and citizen alike, even those back at home, had come to fear even the mentioning of his name._

_A slab of earth suddenly shot up, acting as a rudimentary catapult; Iroh looked upwards to hopefully catch a glimpse of what they had launched._

_And he saw __**him.**_

_Up in the air, dressed completely in white, the color of death in the Fire Nation, with his clothes and silver-colored hair bathed in the blood of his enemies, he descended down towards the shocked general._

_Out of instinct, Iroh quickly drew his dao broadswords and brought them up, blocking the path of the blade._

_Looking into the crimson gaze of __**Shiroyasha**__._

_XD: Please review!_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Uncomfortable Explanations

After hearing Uncle's statement, Zuko immediately tensed up out of fear and shock, positioned to defend himself at the first hint of an attack. The fact that Iroh was similarly positioned spoke much about how guarded they felt now that they knew who they were dealing with.

"_Shiroyasha? THE Shiroyasha?"_

As a young boy, he had spent more than a year listening to his uncle's reports on the siege, including all of the particulars concerning his enemies. The most prominent of the information he sent back home was the presence of a white-clothed warrior with no bending prowess, and armed with only a katana, slaughtering untold numbers of Fire Nation troops; a feat that not even the legendary Piandao could have accomplished. The tales of his lethality spread across the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom so much that he was feared not only by the Fire Nation, but by his own countrymen in the Earth Kingdom as well.

"Well, now that that's over, how about some dinner?"

Iroh and Zuko's jaws dropped as Gintoki nonchalantly changed the topic of conversation, stood up from his seat, and opened the sliding door to their dining quarters as though the meeting between two legends of war was no more exceptional than being asked for some spare change by a homeless man wearing a clown costume.

"_WHAT IN AGNI'S NAME?"_

This shocked not only Zuko, but Iroh as well. They just met a man feared for his prowess at killing and hatred for the Fire Nation, who not only invited them into his home, but was now offering dinner as though they were old friends and not mortal enemies.

Needless to say, uncle and nephew didn't quite know what to make of this situation.

But since they really didn't have a decent lunch that day, and since the mysterious Yato girl and the young man had rushed to dinner as well, the only action they took was following them to not only eat a decent meal, but to make more sense of the situation.

Like that will ever happen.

There were servings of rice and sheep-pig pork on each of the five plates, with a smattering of vegetables as well, and a small cup of tea for each individual as well.

Oh, and the particularly large, furry animal that looked but didn't quite look like a dog-cat.

Picking up the chopsticks and eating with the proper decorum that both of them had learned as Crown Prince, Iroh and Zuko nevertheless kept their muscles tense and poised in case this offering of food was a trick made to lower their guard.

Unfortunately, the horrible table manners of their hosts was doing a rather effective job of lowering their guard anyway.

Gintoki was eating quickly with his mouth open and simultaneously trying to stop Kagura from grabbing any more food. While Shinpachi's manners were far more proper than his two cohorts, he too was trying (and failing) at preventing Kagura from stealing portions of their meals. Said food thief was not only stealing the food from other plates, she was also _shoveling_ the food into her mouth and persisted in eating with her mouth open like Gin. There was also the fact that she was currently engulfing the extra rice into her mouth without any regard as to whether or not anyone else wanted second servings.

"_This is something else to write down, I suppose,"_ Iroh thought with an amused grimace. He had never witnessed the eating habits of the Yato, but it was quite a sight to see it in action.

Which led to the question of _"Why is there a Yato clan member in Ba Sing Se, well away from the Fire Nation?"_

The Yato clan had been well renown as a powerful Fire Nation clan, and a feared one at that. No one truly knows whether the clan had offended a powerful spirit or the Avatar himself hundreds of years ago, but the clan was cursed with incredible strength, agility, resilience, and a craving for battle, blood, and death. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the majority of the clan had been slaughtered 50 years ago by temporarily allied Earth and Fire forces when the bloodlust of the clan members had gotten out of hand. Only a handful of them had escaped the slaughter. And apparently, they had also been cursed with a large stomach and horrible table manners.

After they had cautiously finished their meal and the trio had ceased their food fighting, said trio settled down and focused their attention on the duo focusing on their silver-haired leader.

Zuko was very close to shivering, both with fear and a curiosity about the man seated across from them.

"_What's he doing here? Why did he disappear? How did someone that every Fire Nation man and woman feared end up in the Lower Ring, far from the war and the killing that made him so infamous?"_

"Let me guess; you wanna know why the White Demon is living in the Lower Ring, away from the war and the killing that made me so famous?"

Zuko was startled. Could this man read his mind?

"You two have been fidgeting so much, you have to be bursting with questions."

Zuko relaxed, both relieved and embarrassed. At least this man didn't have any unnatural abilities like telepathy; he'd feel rather insecure if someone could read his mind.

Not that he wasn't already really insecure; just look at his family.

But enough psychology.

"That would be most appreciated." Iroh said this with his rarely used solemn tone of voice. Who could blame him? He was now speaking with a man who was one of his chief adversaries at the siege, and had killed large numbers of his own men. Not to mention that he had once fought this man face to face; and fighting him again was not something Iroh wanted to do. "Just why are you here safely in Ba Sing Se when you put so much energy into fighting the Fire Nation?"

As he was talking, Gintoki had been drinking tea from his cup (one of the few things Kagura _didn't _pilfer) and when the former Dragon finished speaking, he set the cup down and looked at the nephew and uncle with seriousness in his face.

"To tell you the truth…"

Iroh and Zuko waited eagerly for the answer to come.

"I was tired."

Uncle and nephew **metaphorically** face-faulted; and just as Zuko was about to yell at the 26-year-old man, Gin raised his hand to cut off the argument before it began. When they didn't make any move to respond, he continued with his explanation.

"I was tired of killing; of hating everyone from the Fire Nation, of ending so many lives, and tired of losing so many of my friends to war. Being a demon just didn't make me feel any better with the world, so I ceased to be one anymore."

Normally, with the attitude that Iroh and Zuko had seen in every other Earth Kingdom native concerning the Fire Nation, they would be suspicious of one soldier proclaiming to have let go of his drive for battle and war. But he truly meant it. The sincerity was seen in his facial expression, in his body posture, and in his dark red enigmatic eyes. And he didn't act with the same controlled mannerisms like Azula would use, so there was no way he was faking all of these signs.

When he grinned, the two fugitives felt even more sure of their perceptions, and gradually relaxed and gave small smiles of their own.

"Now! You were saying you wanted to work in a tea shop, right?"

As Gintoki and Iroh were discussing possibilities for a job with tea, Zuko quietly listened in on their discussion, which was growing more and more interesting by the minute.

After a while, they started to exchange stories about what happened after the siege. Iroh had spoken about their travels to capture the Avatar and how their nation had branded them as fugitives, and how they came to Ba Sing Se to avoid capture.

Gintoki's was much more interesting.

Zuko gave an amused chuckle. _"Posing as ninja? Helping an overly hard-boiled cop try to catch an elusive thief? Fighting a living sword? Beetle-hunting?"_

"_Their life is even crazier than mine."_

"Now, I was wondering if you would answer a few more questions from this old man."

"Ask away, though you're anything but a simple old man, gramps."

Chuckling, Iroh continued with the permission of the younger man.

"I was wondering; what is a young lady of the Yato clan doing all the way over here in the middle of the Earth Kingdom, away from the Fire Nation?"

Gintoki shrugged.

"There was nothing left for her there."

The family of two grimaced and looked down with sadness in their posture.

Seeing this, the Yorozuya elaborated on his answer to clear up confusion.

"Her pa was always working as a mercenary-for-hire, her mom passed away, and her brother…left. So she wound up traveling in the Earth Kingdom and eventually ended up here. When she got here, she got hired by this stupid fake-perm gang for muscle and intimidation. She left when they told her to kill someone off, and she ran into me. And then she ran into a junk pile. I thought I had injured her, but it was from the gang she escaped. Shinpachi tried to get her out of Ba Sing Se, but both of them nearly died. Then I came along and beat their asses. She's been employed here ever since."

It was quite a tale, and an odd way to meet someone.

Looking at each other, Iroh and Zuko both thought along these lines.

"Very well…now-"

"What's that weird creature sleeping next to the table?"

He flinched under Iroh's disapproving look, but the identity of the animal laying there was a more curious topic for Zuko than the life story of the Yat-_ Kagura_.

"Maa, that's just our dog Sadaharu."

Zuko stared at the strange creature.

"That's _not_ a dog-cat, or a weasel-dog, or even a ferret-dog."

"Nah, just a dog. Only two of them left in the world, and one of them is right here."

How odd; it had something in common with the Avatar, and both of them had the same novelty about them, being the last of their kind.

"Costs a bunch to feed him though."

There had to be a downside; Zuko just knew there would be one.

"Anyway, I think there's a vacant teashop in the Upper Ring that you could work in, but I'll have to pull some strings to get you there."

Zuko and Iroh exchanged glances; it would not be so easy to get a job in the Upper Ring when they had only just entered the Lower Ring.

Iroh decided to vocalize their concerns.

Gintoki just shrugged and pointed to a vacant room with two empty futons (Japanese bedding).

"You can sleep there for the night, and we'll get you your job in the morning.

As he stretched out his arms, Zuko opened the window to let the morning sun rays warm his body. It was much nicer to sleep on a decent bed for a change.

It took him a while to get to sleep while listening to Iroh and Kagura snoring up a storm, but he managed to survive.

After the rest of the Yorozuya crew woke up and served them breakfast (which wasn't as messy as dinner, thank Agni), they left with Gin leading the way to find them a shortcut to the tea job in the Upper Ring. After walking around for more than an hour, Gintoki stopped and pointed.

"There's your ticket."

He was pointing to a group of men wearing black uniforms and pants, each of them wearing a sword at their hip.

The Shinsengumi.

Gintoki had taken time to explain to Iroh how Ba Sing Se operated; how the king was just a figurehead, with all of the power resting solely in the hands of the Grand Secretariat Long Feng and the Dai Li, and how anyone who opposed them disappeared only to reappear brainwashed and not themselves.

He also spoke of the police force that patrolled the Rings of Ba Sing Se to curb troublemaking, thievery, and terrorist attacks made by incensed and bitter former Earth Kingdom soldiers who wanted nothing more than to topple Ba Sing Se out of revenge, despite the war. This police force was the Shinsengumi.

At the head of the group were three rather unique men. The leader was 30 years old with a lightly tanned face, black hair sticking straight up, with a bit of hair growing on his chin. The second man (obviously second-in-command) was in his mid-to-late twenties, had wild black hair, pale face, sharp grey eyes, and was smoking a cigarette (a foul habit). The third man was no older than eighteen with short brown hair with dark red eyes.

This was going to be fun, they could _tell_.

"Oi, gorilla! Do you have a moment?"

Once again, the former royals were shocked by his bad manners. You don't just open a conversation by insulting someone!

Oh, how little did they know.

With a grimace on their faces, the three men (whom Gin had identified as Chief Kondo, Vice-Chief Hijikata, and Captain Sougo of the Shinsengumi First Division) turned to look directly at the speaker, while taking in the unfamiliar men walking next to him. Kondo made a move to speak.

"For the last time, Yorozuya, it's Kondo, not gorilla!"

"At least he didn't insult mayonnaise this time."

"Maa, Hijikata-san, if you keep eating every bit of food with mayonnaise, you'll get food poisoning and die. So please, please keep continue with your nasty habit."

"Did you just threaten me! DIE, SOUGO!"

"DIE, HIJIKATA!"

"That's enough from both of you!"

At their chief's order, the two men sheathed their blades and waited for further instructions.

"Now, Yorozuya, what do you want this time?"

Pointing his thumb towards the two ex-royals, Gin began his explanation.

"This is Mushi and his nephew Lee. They just came to Ba Sing Se, and the old man makes some really damn good tea. Isn't there a vacant tea shop up for grabs in the Upper Ring?"

Surprised, the three officials exchanged glances with each other, and directed their attention back to the other trio.

"Yeah, there's a vacant tea shop up there. But, the only way you'll get a job there is if Quon, the owner, thinks you're really, really good."

As he said this, Hijikata was lighting his cigarette with a lighter shaped and colored like a _mayonnaise bottle_, prompting Iroh and Zuko to sweat-drop.

Obsessive, ain't he?

_Note: Look up Japanese Honorifics on your computer. I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama._

_PS: Please review!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Note: I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama_

_Enjoy!_

Chapter Four: Remembrance

"YOU'RE HIRED!"

Zuko promptly sweat dropped.

_That was fast._

As it turned out, the tea baron known as Quon was looking for a skilled tea-maker to rake in business for his shop. It took a while for them to actually find this infamous businessman with Gintoki casually insulting the Shinsengumi men, Sougo's attempts at killing his vice-chief, and Hijikata's attempts at revenge for the said murder attempts. Unfortunately, the worst part of socializing with these men was their chief's constant stalking of a pretty 18-year-old girl named (O)Tae, who just happened to be the sister of the young man at the Yorozuya, Shinpachi.

As he saw the said sister mercilessly beat up the chief of police with her bare hands, Zuko made a mental note to never, ever get on her bad side, and to tread around her more carefully than he did around Azula.

Though in the end, he really shouldn't have been surprised; even though he rarely sought out tea as a beverage, he found it exquisite whenever his uncle had brewed up a pot of it. And if Iroh impressed Quon so much that it earned him immediate employment, the tea had to be good.

Even so, the four crazy men could have just taken them directly to Quon's headquarters instead of giving them a free, surprisingly safe tour of the Lower Ring. It did give him a better layout of how each of the three Rings operated, including the "Four Emperors" of the Lower Ring (those who had the most influence through the lower sector of Ba Sing Se). However, the former Prince grudgingly admitted that some of the citizens were individuals he wouldn't mind talking with, though some of them made him feel scared like s***; seriously, those _okama_ (transvestites/cross-dressers) were scary.

That Jin girl was cute, though.

:::Time-skip:::

Later during the evening, Zuko was sitting silently at the dinner table with the Yorozuya crew and Iroh; though Iroh seemed less interested in his meal and more on what he should title his tea shop.

"How about the _Tea Weevil_?"

And he was doing such a poor job at naming it as well, since this was his eighth name so far.

Back to rubbing his forehead out of exasperation.

"Jasmine Dragon."

All heads turned to Gin as he was busy eating his _soba_ (Japanese noodles made from buckwheat flour) with interest and curiosity. He hadn't spoken the entire time during Iroh's painful "naming game" as though he wasn't aware anyone was talking at all.

Not to mention, his idea for a name seemed like a masterpiece compared to what Iroh had been cooking up (pun intended).

Iroh rubbed his chin in wonder. "Jasmine Dragon…elegant, beautiful, and it represents tea…". He beamed. "I love it!"

Zuko sighed out of relief. _Finally__; now I can focus on finishing my meal and going to bed…"_

"Now onto the color scheme, artwork, and structure of the shop!"

…_Damn._

After the food had been finished off with less trouble than the previous night (though Kagura had come dangerously close to devouring Iroh and Zuko's nearly untouched portions), nephew and uncle stayed seated at the table while Shinpachi and Kagura went to the adjacent room for some well-needed rest, considering the Yorozuya work they had accomplished today (Although they would never, ever consent to cleaning out an entire ostrich-horse stable without forcing Gin to help them with such miserable work). On the other hand, Gintoki had merely walked out to the deck of the high-quality shop to lay back and view the moon to relax. He may not have shown it, but it was exhausting helping out his former enemy, even though he held no animosity towards the retired Dragon of the West.

_Some instincts just don't go away so easily, I guess._

Unknown to him, Iroh and Zuko were having similar thoughts about the unusual situation they found themselves in. While he had never met the swordsman like Iroh had, Zuko was also fighting down the fear that usually accompanied the name of one of the Fire Nation's most feared opponents.

_Calm down. He's given us a new lease on life, and he pulled a lot of strings to get us a job and a house in the Upper Ring, even though we're former Princes of the Fire Nation. Besides…_

…_he's nothing like Azula or Father._

Growing up with them taught Zuko a lot about how people lie, and what sort of gestures implied what emotions they felt, even though Ozai and Azula usually never gave away their emotions through facial expressions. A certain gesture with their hands, tensing of the muscles…

Different ways of indicating displeasure or outright malice.

He had been on the receiving end of their emotions enough to know.

And despite the warrior nature obviously hiding just below Gintoki's nonchalant attitude and gestures, he never controlled his features or kept his emotions hidden when he had something to say. Instead of lying to get on their good side, he told them exactly what he thought, and add in a ridiculous suggestion to get a reaction.

Something they would never lower themselves to.

Iroh was fighting an even stronger instinct, one he thought he had left long ago at the end of the Ba Sing Se Siege. The instinct to eliminate your enemy before he can do the same to you. He could still remember the emotions he felt and the adrenaline that had pumped through his whole body when he had fought the white-haired swordsman covered in Fire Nation blood. Neither of them giving even an inch, making sure that each other's attacks never hit anything serious…

Each of them burning with the same drive and intent.

_My people. My family. My men._

All that emotion that they had poured into that battle, with every swing and stab of the katana and every blast and wave of fire…it was a wonder that the battle had ended in a draw, and that they weren't at each other's throats right now.

But they weren't. Because they could tell.

Iroh could tell that even amongst his random quotes and ideas, his insults and sarcasm, there was an underlying tone of respect in his voice when they had conversed last night. The white demon he met on the battlefield years ago would not bother with any sort of respect or civility. He would have simply dispensed death to anything clothed in red. Not give them lodgings in the Upper Ring where they could feel comfortable and safe. Besides…

It wasn't good to hold onto old misgivings.

_:::Flashback:::_

_Ba Sing Se Siege: Day 600_

_It was finally coming to an end. General Iroh had been holding this siege for over a year, and each day that had passed gave less and less hope to the soldiers that they would ever be able to conquer the Impenetrable City for the Fire Nation, much less return to their families alive and well. They knew what Azulon had ordered._

_Conquer it, or burn it to the ground. Nothing else._

_Now Iroh had made a breakthrough. Using what blasting jelly they had and striking the wall in strategic areas left open by the Earth Kingdom with every bit of fire-bending that they possessed, they would finally break a hole in the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se…and end this exceedingly long campaign._

_They were executing the plan right now on his orders. Iroh rose from his seat at the camp to get a better view of the progress they were making. As he did so, he felt a twinge of pain along his left side and shoulder. The wounds he had received from his battle with Shiroyasha would heal, according to the medics in the army, but there would be some pain in the wounded areas for a month at the most. Hopefully, when the armies marched through the opening, one of the first soldiers to fall would be the White Demon himself._

_Iroh grimaced. He certainly hoped so. He had no intention of fighting such a skilled and lethal opponent again; they would most certainly end up killing each other._

_Looking towards the now-existent hole in the Wall, Iroh felt a rush of achievement and relief at the sight. Lu Ten's division was one of the first scheduled to enter the gap and achieve a high honor in completing the task of conquering the Earth Kingdom capitol. After all, his son, at a young 21 years, had fought side by side with him for the entirety of the siege. He deserved some of the glory that was sure to come with their victory. And they would bring it home with them to see their family after a long, long time._

_Zuko, Ursa, even Azula and Ozai. How he longed to see them again._

_He squinted his eyes to get a better view. Then his eyes widened in horror and shock._

_There was a trap coming down on his men! The damned Earth Kingdom soldiers were using the rubble from the hole in the Wall to create an avalanche that would crush the battalion. And the small force of Earth Kingdom soldiers coming through was bound to finish off any survivors. Even as he rallied the remainder of his men, ordering them with the utmost urgency to aid their fellows before it was too late…_

_He already knew that they wouldn't get there in time._

_Moving faster on the komodo-rhinos than any of them had ever done in their lives, they surged forward with the Dragon himself leading them._

_My son! My son! __My son!_

_Leading them towards the Earth forces and forcing them away from the survivors, Iroh dismounted and climbed through the rubble with several of his soldiers to find the survivors, and the victims._

_Calling his name out, the Crown Prince desperately searched for his son, the one he had let down, the one he had sent into such a terribly lethal trap…_

_He heard a groan to his right, and looked._

_And paled._

_There was Lu Ten, with a large, bleeding hole made from a nearby boulder in his abdomen with his left arm utterly crushed, both legs broken, and a profusely bleeding head wound just above his eyes. His beautiful, beloved son was now going to join his departed wife. And he knew it. The wound on his son was too deep and wide, and he had lost too much blood._

_That did not stop him from rushing to Lu Ten's side and using every first aid he knew to try to save his son's life, even though he knew it was all in vain._

_Lu Ten's eyes fluttered open, then he turned his head slightly to gaze upon his father's face one last time._

"…_Dad…"_

_Iroh kept trying his hardest to keep his son's wound from bleeding any more, despite the futility. Desperate to put things right like when Lu Ten had scraped his knee and he had kissed it to make it better._

"…_Dad…stop…it's not…going to…work…"_

_Hearing the words he so desperately didn't want to acknowledge, he tried to assure himself…to ease some of the pain he was feeling._

"_No…it will! It has to…you are going…to live…!"_

_He could no longer hold his tears in, or the choked sobs he didn't want his son to hear…_

"…_I'm…sorry…Dad…"_

"_Don't be; this…isn't your fault! You're…going to…live!"_

"_It's okay…you can…stop now, Dad…"_

"_YOU'RE…GOING…To…LIVE!"_

_Lu Ten's good arm clasped onto his father's shoulder, stopping the general from moving any more…but not stopping the tears flowing from his eyes._

"_Dad…there are…others who need…help to live. I won't…survive…no matter what you do…"_

_Iroh bowed his head in shame and defeat, holding his face in his hands._

"_Don't…be sad, Dad…"_

_His hands found his son's shoulders, trying to hold onto his son for the last time. His body racked with sobs, he gave his son a kiss on his bloody brow, and a fragile hug for his broken body._

"…_I love you…"_

_As father and son exchanged these last words, the younger man's final breath left him._

_He was dead. His son was dead. And he wouldn't be coming back._

_The stricken father let out a cry of despair, to let everyone know the pain he was feeling._

_:::Later that evening:::_

_The Dragon of the West sat at the table with his remaining officers, still grief-stricken, but conscious enough for this meeting._

"_What is…the status of our remaining troops…?"_

_Looks of grief, knowing, and sympathy were exchanged across the table, understanding the pain their general was feeling…and sharing it with him._

_Colonel Ku Wu spoke up._

"_Our forces…have been severely injured in this last movement, your Highness. Nearly a fourth of our remaining troops died in the ambush, leaving us severely handicapped. Attacking a second time…even if we spot their next ambush before it happens…"_

_No more words were said. It was plain to everyone there that this loss had defeated their efforts utterly, with no hope of even burning Ba Sing Se to the ground, at least._

_The general heaved a sigh._

"…_Tomorrow…we leave for home."_

_They looked at the Prince in shock. It was true that another assault would be suicide on their part, but Azulon himself had given the order to conquer or destroy. And to never come back until they had done one of the two. As they were about to protest, Iroh leveled them with a condemning stare._

_They quieted. And understood. He may have lost his son, but he was doing what was best for the rest of the troops and for the chance to give their dead proper funerals. Even if he did invoke Azulon's wrath…this was the best choice available._

_Leaving the tent with their defeat aching in them like a fresh wound, the officers left the general alone to grieve for his loss._

_A single tear rolled down his cheek. He pulled out a hidden knife from one of his pockets, raised it…_

_And brought it down onto his wrist._

_As he faded out of consciousness, he thought "I will see you again…Lu Ten…"_

_And woke up in a swamp._

_There were no wounds upon his body, and when he tried to summon his fire, nothing happened. He had now entered into the Spirit World._

_He saw and felt the spiritual energies flowing around him…the unity of the elements coming together to bring peace to those in the afterlife…the understanding of how the world was supposed to be…_

_He felt…at peace…more than when he had spared the last two dragons from death…_

_Then he felt a tug…and disappeared._

_Opening his eyes, he sat upward in his breathing, very much alive, body._

"_You scared me, General."_

_He turned to see his aide and friendly Pai Sho rival Zhen Zi applying pressure, bandages, and medicine to the slashed wrist._

"…_Would it help if I said I was sorry?"_

_Zhen Zi grimaced and gave Iroh a __very__ hard look._

"_Only if you swear on your __honor__ and the honor of __every Fire Nation citizen__ to never do something so stupid again."_

_Iroh grimaced, and shook his shoulders._

"_At least I got to see the Spirit World…"_

_He flinched at Zhen's look._

"_Then you were very close to death."_

_Faltering, Iroh look down in shame._

"_There's nothing left for me to do now; how can I possibly find meaning with all this new knowledge in my head? And to use it well?"_

_Zhen Zi hesitated, then looked him straight in the eye._

"_Trust me…and you'll find a way."_

_He whipped out a White Lotus Pai Sho tile…_

XDXDXD

Please Review!


	6. Chapter 6

_Note: I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama_

_Enjoy!_

Chapter Six: Sharing and Sympathy

It had been little over a month since Iroh and Zuko had made it into Ba Sing Se and fortified their positions as tea-brewers with the help of Gintoki. Fortunately for them, they found their friendship with the former legend to be quite pleasant, since he was so willing to help them out with their living conditions and styles. It was better for them to get all of this information so they didn't make fools of themselves later on.

While going over important places and people in the workings of Ba Sing Se, Gin had pointed out the family names of the many individuals. Such as Kondo being the family name of the Shinsengumi chief, his first name being Isao; Hijikata was the vice-chief's, with his first name being Toshiro; Okita was Captain Sougo's family name, and Gin's own family name was Sakata; and Shinpachi and Tae had the family name Shimura.

Which reminded them to never, ever taste Tae's cooking again.

They'd rather face Azula with their legs cut off than taste those…_abominations_ again.

_And why the hell did those two set me up on a date?_

A few days ago, when they were getting a second tour to get the feel for the other two Rings of the city, both Iroh and Gintoki had schemed together and set Zuko up on a date with the pretty girl named Jin. Next thing he knew, he was in a restaurant trying to impress her with a _juggling act_ of all things, and failing miserably at making small talk. The only highlight of the date was when they had went to the fountain and he had lit the candles to make her happy. Oh, and giving her his first kiss, too.

It was rather nice, actually.

However, that didn't prevent him from getting pissed at the two scheming war veterans.

As they had spent more time in the Earth Kingdom capitol, Gintoki taught them more about the people living in the city, and how everyone in each different sector was likely to act and interact with them. They weren't expecting the odd-job swordsman to give them personal information concerning his own past and daily workings.

More specifically, what sort of odd-jobs he took and how likely they were to be dangerous in some aspects. Such as retrieving a monstrous 'pet' for a dim-witted Earth Kingdom prince who governed over the city of Hoshi (Star) in the middle of the Earth Kingdom. At least back at home, Azula had never gone as far as to bring something lethal home and proclaim it as a pet. _Stupid people shouldn't be allowed to keep pets_. How true that was.

The other information they received concerned the status of Gin's former Joi Army comrades, and what sort of habits they had picked up since the end of the war.

The wavy-brown-haired man Iroh had spotted in the siege was named Tatsuma, with the family name Sakamoto (which was used far more often than Tatsuma) had quit the life of a soldier much like Gintoki had and had moved on to become a wealthy merchant of the Kingdom, aiding his country through business instead of war. A fine venture indeed, for a man so optimistic he would proclaim that he was suffering from a hangover when he actually had large dog fangs imbedded in his skull.

Actually, it seemed like more of a miracle that he survived being a merchant with that attitude.

The second war compatriot with short black hair and sharp, green eyes was named Shinsuke, with the family name Takasugi (also used more often) had taken the much darker and violent path as a terrorist killing off government officials and creating havoc without any regard for who got hurt or killed, and apparently had a sole purpose to "destroy this rotten world". He could be identified by the bandages he wore over his no-longer-existent left eye. Uncle and nephew had agreed with Gin that they should avoid this very dangerous individual at all costs.

Much like that Jet fellow, who had accosted them in the Lower Ring with the intention of exposing them as Fire-Benders and had dueled Zuko with broadswords vs. hook-swords. Unfortunately for him, he had been carted away by the Dai Li for disturbing the peace to Agni-knows-where. They hoped he wasn't brainwashed as Gintoki had told them, but there wasn't much hope for that.

The third compatriot, on the other hand…

_:::Flashback:::_

_Today, the two ex-princes had decided to relax a little in their new-found freedom and take a break for the day. For lunch-time, they decided to head over to Gintoki's house for some friendly company and hopefully more interesting tales about the incredible odd-jobs he had performed in the past. Unfortunately for them, this lunch was not going to be a peaceful occasion as they had hoped. Not that they should have expected one anyway._

_When they were half-finished with their meal, the window was abruptly opened and produced a long-haired young man and a duck…person…thing…_

"_Whew…that was certainly close…"_

_Gintoki's head turned and he scowled at the unwelcome visitor._

"_Baka Zura! When are ya gonna stop using __my home__ as a hide-a-way!"_

_The long-haired man turned to look at the silver-haired man in indignation._

"_Zura ja nai! Katsura-"_

_He stopped. And took in the figures eating lunch at his old friend's dining table._

_Paled, and reached for the katana at his side._

_However, Gintoki was quicker in his movements and grasped the handle of the blade before his friend could fully draw it out of its sheathe._

"_Calm down __now__, Zura. You'll scare away the guests with that sort of attitude."_

"_Zura ja nai, Katsura da! And what do you mean, guests? Those two are Prince Iroh and Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation! The one we're AT WAR WITH?"_

"_Actually, they're registered as Earth Kingdom refugees Mushi and Lee, so technically they're not who you say they are. And if you had been paying attention to the wanted posters, you'd know that they're being hunted by their countrymen."_

"_That doesn't…I-I-I…but…"_

_Smack!_

_Zuko couldn't help but snicker at the red handprint on Katsura's cheek and his dumbfounded expression as well. He would have outright chuckled if the situation was not as serious as potentially being exposed for who they truly were._

"_Bakayarou (You idiot)! They're on the run just as much as you are! If you don't sit down and shut up right now, I'll toss both you and Elizabeth out on your asses! Besides…Iroh makes some really good __tea__."_

_That made him sit down straightaway. "My apologies. Now, what sort of tea do you make?"_

_Cue sweat-drops. It seemed like he was just as fond of tea as Iroh was. And what exactly was that thing next to him? And what kind of name is Elizabeth?_

_:::End Flashback:::_

As it turned out, the young man's name was Kotaro with the family name Katsura. As for most of his friends, Gintoki referred to him by his family name more often than not, but usually with a ridiculous nickname that he hated. Katsura had become a terrorist trying to change Ba Sing Se's ways of living through force, but had changed his ways and was trying more peaceful ways at bringing about change in the city. And the freakish creature with him was just a man in a duck suit, even though Katsura refused to realize either its true nature or gender.

That wasn't the problem for today.

"Zuko, would you mind tending to the shop while I'm gone? I'm just leaving to buy some things at the markets."

Zuko looked up in confusion. There wasn't anything they needed for the store, and their respective birthdays were nowhere near today's date, so why…?

Then he looked at the calendar. And realized the reason.

"Of course, Uncle. Come back whenever you feel like it.", Zuko said softly.

Iroh smiled sadly in gratitude, and left the shop.

_Lu Ten…_

_:::Flashback:::_

"_General…?"_

_Iroh turned to look at his undertaker for the army, Xian. He had been appointed to prepare the dead bodies of the fallen Fire Nation soldiers for travel so that they would have a proper funeral back home for the sake of their surviving comrades, and their families. The one the undertaker had been paying the most attention to was Iroh's late son, Lu Ten._

_With a solemn gaze, he looked at the undertaker with patience, knowing that what he had to tell was for his ears only, since his personal visit had to concern the body of his son._

_He could still barely hold the tears back. "What…is the matter, Xian?"_

_The undertaker hesitated. "General, while I was examining your son's…body…I found something rather…peculiar."_

_Seriousness creeping into his expression, Iroh leaned forward, bidding Xian to continue his explanation with more confidence._

"_The boulder you found nearby had definitely caused the stomach wound, but the wound pattern shows that it had been removed by the hands of another, meaning that someone took the care to remove the boulder from crushing your son any further. And while there was no way possible for your son to be saved, I found some form of treatment on him; one that is definitely pumpkin-pear poultice."_

_His eyes widened. This not only meant that his son had (thankfully) received a painless death, it was also administered by an __Earth Kingdom soldier__, since the poultice was unique to the Earth Kingdom and never used by the Fire Nation._

"…_I see…"_

_Relieved that the general had come to the same conclusion he had, Xian turned to leave the tent with his purpose over with._

"…_I wish I knew who it was…"_

_Xian turned to look at his General in confusion, until he realized what the general meant; if he ever met the man who had taken the time to spare his son a painful death despite all enmity…_

_Well, it would be one hell of a hug._

_:::End Flashback:::_

"Yo, Grump-Bender."

Zuko grimaced, and turned to look at the silver-haired, unwelcome intruder in the household.

"Is there any particular reason you've dropped in uninvited, when we are still doing business with customers?", Zuko said with a fearsome frown and his arms crossed. While he had a healthy respect for the swordsman's skills and the aid he gave them in cementing a home in the Upper Ring (and the friendly company he offered every time they invited him and his young cohorts to their shop), it was always irritating how he would suddenly pop in when they weren't expecting him or in a mood for company (and how he snuck up without Zuko or Iroh even noticing).

"Maa, maa, don't be so uptight. I'm just wondering why your uncle would be leaving the shop in the middle of the day when business is steady and there's plenty of tea to make for customers."

Another irritating thing about him was how deceptively _perceptive_ the man could be when he set his mind to it. He turned his head away. He might as well tell him, since he probably wouldn't drop the conversation until he got an answer.

"…It's his son's…Lu Ten's…birthday."

An uncomfortable silence reigned.

"…I see…"

Gintoki's understanding expression put Zuko at ease, relieved that the odd-jobs man understood the severity of Iroh's shopping trip.

"Well, I better go join him in shopping, then!"

Or maybe not.

:::Scene Break:::

Moving along the marketplace, Gintoki looked for the particular item he sought, as well as the individual he was seeking as well. Stopping by a cheap store and purchasing what he came for, he turned and headed towards the likely spot where Iroh would be.

He sighed. "Lu Ten, huh…?"

_:::Flashback:::_

_It was beginning to be too much._

_As the battles kept dragging on throughout the entire 600 days, Gintoki lost a little more of his drive for battle each day. The blood-stained bodies of his friends and enemies alike haunted his dreams, and the killing he partook in every day seemed more meaningless as he continued to fight. 'How many more soldiers do I have to kill? How many more friends will I watch die in battle?' Even throughout the ambush the Earth-Benders launched from the gaping hole in the Outer Wall, there was no shortage of soldiers to stab and cut. Sakamoto and Zura were enforcing their troops on the left side of the broken wall, while he had taken Takasugi to the medics to treat his wounded eye._

_At least he had managed to kill the bastard who did the deed. That same scarred inhuman man who had killed his beloved sensei…and had cut out the left eye of one of his childhood friends…_

_He couldn't help but feel elated as he sliced off that man's head and watched as the body and head were separately smashed by random boulders._

_He kept fighting despite the avalanche around him…despite the corpses around him…despite the fact that he no longer had his heart in the fight…_

_Cut. Slice. Stab. Disembowel. Decapitate._

_An endless cycle. And then…there was silence on the battlefield, signifying its end._

_He wandered back through the rubble, looking at the scattered bodies, the bloodshed that seemed never-ending…_

_Then he heard someone groan._

_He turned and looked to see a boulder on top of a Fire Nation soldier, being crushed by the rock. With quick steps, he reached the location and moved the boulder off of the body to allow the man some ease. Recognition sparked when he looked upon the dying man's face; he himself had seen him rush to the Dragon of the West's side during battle, and the gold decoration signifying royalty; this was Lu Ten, the son of Iroh. He was just as old as Gintoki; and he wouldn't live another hour, he knew that. But this man…no, boy…wouldn't have the chance to grow up…to love, to lead, to have a life of his own…_

_With another groan, Lu Ten opened his eyes weakly to look at the white-clothed figure standing over him. Recognition and fear sparking in his eyes, he relaxed, and began to speak with great difficulty._

"_Sir…Shiroyasha…if you are going to kill me…please make it a quick death…"_

_Kneeling down to his level, Gintoki raised his hand…_

_And pulled out a bag of medicine he always carried with him._

_As he applied the poultice, he spoke "This isn't gonna save you…but it'll make your passing more peaceful."_

_Gratitude lining his face, the fallen Prince made a move to speak…_

_And was interrupted by a desperate shout from afar…one that belonged to his father._

_Grasping his sword for another fight, Gin was interrupted. "…Please…don't kill…him…"_

_Looking at his pleading, dying face, Gintoki found himself sheathing his sword and making a move towards the Earth camps._

"…_Thank you, sir…Shiroyasha…"_

"_Gintoki."_

_A look of surprise._

"_I am Gintoki of the Sakata family; it was nice meeting you, Prince Lu Ten."_

_With a smile on his face, the prince spoke. "…The same to you…Gintoki.."_

_As he left the battlefield and put away his equipment, he heard a cry of despair echo through the air…and felt his own tear roll down his cheek…_

_:::Flashback End:::_

"_Leaves from the vine, falling so slow…like fragile, tiny shells, drifting on the foam…brave soldier boy, come marching home…(sob)…brave, soldier boy…comes marching home…_"

As he cried on the hill on his son's birthday, he felt a presence come next to him. And drop something in front of the memorial and bowed in prayer.

"Ya don't have to grieve alone, ya know…"

As he looked at Gin in confusion, he looked at what was dropped, and saw a pile of pumpkin-pear poultice spread in front of his son's picture. Understanding flowed into his face, as well as immeasurable gratitude.

Gintoki smiled sadly at Iroh, and they understood.

They sat there until the sun had completely set, for the memory of those they lost in war…and the second chance they were granted at a new life.

_XD: Please Review!_


	7. Chapter 7

_Note: I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama. __**Please review!**_

_Warning: this chapter is longer than the others._

_Enjoy!_

Chapter Seven: Impressions and their Importance

It was rather frightening how often they spent their days off with the eccentric silver-haired man when they could be at the hot springs or some other building to relax and take a break from their business. But somehow…this confusing man had somehow wormed his way into their depressingly short list of friends and was keeping himself on that list with an iron grip.

Actually, that was partly their fault, since they found his friendship to be a ray of light compared to the misfortunes that uncle and nephew had endured over the years.

Zuko reflected on these facts, and mentally snorted with amusement while he drank his tea. It wasn't that surprising to him in the present time, because the company Gin offered the two exiles had gradually raised his relevance in their lives from a mere acquaintance to…a member of the family. He remembered how Gintoki had taken the time over the weeks they spent in Ba Sing Se to give him some more instructions on how to better perfect his swordsmanship, and his Fire-Bending, to his shock; though his experience _fighting_ Fire-Benders was probably the source of his knowledge.

Sometimes…the ex-Prince had caught himself thinking about the ex-White Demon as another uncle, including Iroh as a primary father figure.

Though he would rather work in the circus than admit feelings like that.

Looking across the table, he noted that Gintoki had invited Katsura and Elizabeth over for tea as well. It was confusing how he would allow the two Earth Kingdom fugitives to take refuge in his house when they were being actively pursued by the Shinsengumi. When he voiced these thoughts, Gin promptly pointed out that was what he was doing with the ex-Princes as well. Fortunately for them, the day seemed to be progressing rather well, without any complications.

Unfortunately, this was when Murphy's Law decided to stick its rather annoying nose into their business.

Kagura had been sent from the dining table when she had repeatedly tried to steal the food from their plates, and had finally been stopped after she succeeded in devouring half of the food resting on the said table. She had placed herself in her temporary exile at the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of something else to eat, or at the very least, something embarrassing to hold over their neighbor's heads in blackmail.

That's when she spotted something rather peculiar making its way to their house, ready to disrupt the comfortable setting of their home.

"Oi, Gin-chan! There's a bald kid coming towards us; and he's flying, too!"

It was rather unfortunate that she said that just as Zuko and Iroh were taking another sip of their tea, because it promptly left their mouths as they sprayed the liquid out in surprise and alarm right onto the unfortunate faces of their hosts and fellow guests.

From the experiences they shared with the three _yorozuya_ and the solid fact that no child in any of the three remaining nations was either bald or could fly, it wasn't long before the rest of the individuals comprehended just who was flying towards the business with two fugitives and two ex-royals inside the room. With a quick gesture with his head and hands telling them to hide, Gintoki stood up and went over to the front door to welcome his unwelcome visitors as his four guests took refuge in the closet.

And he opened the door to find a young Water Tribe teen, a young, female Water Bender, judging from the water pouch at her side, a blind Earth Kingdom girl, and a smiling Air Bender with hope lining his face.

_Oh, this is gonna be __fun__._

_Silver hair__?_

Sokka wasn't too enthusiastic when Aang had dragged them down to the Lower Ring because he had heard about someone who does odd jobs for a living, hoping that this man could help them find Appa. Katara had followed his decision with similar hope in this venture while Toph grudgingly came along with even less enthusiasm than Sokka.

As he looked up at the man's strange appearance, he vaguely wondered just what Aang had gotten them into this time.

"Hi! Have you seen a lost Sky Bison anywhere? He's about so tall-"

And there Aang went, talking even though the face of the silver-haired man showed clear disgruntlement and annoyance. Sokka briefly wondered if being a vegetarian was what caused Aang to possess so much energy, and promptly decided to never abandon his precious meat-filled meals under any circumstances.

"-and we'd really like it if you could tell us anything you know."

Aang's lengthy description had caused the unfortunate mercenary to massage his ears to hopefully relieve some of the pain. After he was done, he looked at the group of four on his doorstep with every intention of giving them a piece of his mind for the disturbance.

Sadly, the Gaang was not disappointed.

"I don't know about you brats, but if there was a ten-ton flying bison anywhere near here, people would know where he is; something like that is not hard to miss. Now shoo; I'm due for a date with some sugary desserts, and you're wasting my time."

From the disappointed looks that the boy was now sporting and the indignant look on the Water Tribe girl's face, his less-than-honorable objective had been accomplished. He made a move to shut the door rather forcefully to discourage them from speaking any further, but he was stopped by the abrupt appearance of ice lining the hinges, preventing the door from being fully closed. And from the open flask and the decidedly _pissed_ look on her face, it was the Water Bender who had vandalized his precious door.

The only reason it was actually precious was that it was the fifteenth door he had installed in the long line of doors that had been destroyed because of his line of work. But that's another long story all together.

With another annoyed look on his face, he glared at the offending group. "You do realize that you're breaking the law by vandalizing my door, right? If you don't leave right now, I am allowed to use force to remove you from my property; by **force**, if I must." Deciding on playing the clueless card, he posed another question to the group of children with his eyebrows raised. "Who are you little shrimp-prawns, anyway? Runaways from the circus? You certainly look the part."

That was a rather peculiar shade of red that the Tribe children and the Avatar were sporting on their faces. The Earth Bender (since no other blind person could get around so easily), on the other hand, was smirking in amusement.

_I think I like this one._

"More rules**?** This place practically chokes on rules**!**"

Looks like he'd hit a sore spot with the Air Bender, which was rather unsettling. Gintoki may have no use for some of the laws existing (such as _not_ disturbing the local police force on a regular basis), but even he realized how important they were in a big city like this. And unfortunately, the Avatar seemed to have no clue about any of that.

_Is he in for a surprise._

Katara chose this time to speak/complain. "Isn't helping others what you're supposed to do**?** Appa means a lot to Aang, and you're just standing there telling us to beat it**!** And he's the Avatar; the one who's supposed to end this war once and for all**?** Don't you think you'd help us do that if you at least tried to be more helpful**?**"

At this point, Gintoki decided to stop acting, and promptly laughed his ass off right in front of the irritated teenage group.

_Oh, this is way too easy._

"He's the Avatar? Either this is a trick, or we really are doomed to be roasted like marshmallows by the Toasting Lord."

Oh Agni, it was hard restraining his laughter; Zuko was afraid he'd burst from the mirth he had pent up from Gintoki's comedy act with the Avatar and his friends. It didn't seem like such a bad option, dying from laughter. On the other hand, he had to make sure their presence stayed hidden from the quartet outside the door or they'd be shipped off to the Dai Li faster than an Air Bender. Plus, it was getting cramped in the small closet space, and Katsura's curry-scented breath wasn't helping at all.

And apparently, the argument outside showed no signs of stopping.

"How can you say something like that_**?**_", Katara shouted. "Aang's fully capable of defeating the Fire Lord and bringing peace to the world! Besides, he's done plenty of things to help people suffering in the world."

His tone full of disbelief, Gintoki spoke, "Really? Name one time he's actually done something useful."

Perking up, Aang decided to speak up so he could win over the disgruntled _yorozuya_. "Well, a week ago, I helped out a zoo-keeper and his animals with Earth-Bending to find a better place where the animals wouldn't be so cramped and unhappy anymore.", he finished with a smile on his face and on Katara's as well.

"_You mean to tell me_…"

Zuko and Iroh felt shivers run up their spines. That tone of voice never boded well for anybody.

"…that you are the one responsible for all of the houses that got damaged, the farmland that was ruined, and the broken bones of innocent civilians…all because you wanted to help?"

Visibly shaken by what the swordsman had just said, Aang spoke up, "…But…I really wanted to help…"

"Tough, 'cause you only made things worse."

Moving protectively in front of the disillusioned Air-Bender, Katara spoke up once again. "Okay, so Aang made a mistake. But he's also done plenty of things to fight the Fire Nation."

Gintoki folded his arms across his chest and waited for her to continue.

Somewhat heartened by his willingness to listen, Katara moved on with her speech. "Well, when the Fire Nation attacked the North Pole a while back, Aang was the one who defeated the invasion and saved the Northern Water Tribe from being conquered, like they've been doing for the past 100 years."

Perking up, the 12-year-old Air-Bender inserted himself into the conversation (interrupted) with a desire to prove himself to the obstinate swordsman in the doorway. "Yeah! I joined with the Ocean Spirit, and we totally used some awesome Water-Bending to blow the Fire Nation back! And I also helped Omashu rebels escape the city! And I also stopped that HUGE Fire Nation drill from destroying the Walls of Ba Sing Se by destroying it from the inside!".

The young Avatar stopped his excitable explanation with a proud look adorning both his face and Katara's. Sokka and Toph didn't join them because they could see (or in Toph's case, _feel_) that Gin wasn't impressed at all by the list of deeds presented before him.

Sadly, they were proven right.

"First off, any idiot could have told them to leave by showing them how stupid staying in the city would be, and encourage them to escape by burrowing underground with Earth-Bending. Secondly, I heard about the drill incident, and even a non-bender like myself could have easily seen that I could have flipped it over or push it in a different direction with a whole bunch of Earth-Bending, which you two have in spades. Going inside that thing was an unnecessary risk for you getting captured."

This criticism promptly plastered ashamed looks on the Gaang's faces for the reality of their feats to be broken down so quickly. Also with the knowledge that their methods in dealing with the two situations were full of holes and while effective, they were definitely not the best choices to make.

"As for the mass-murdering you committed at the North Pole…"

Aang looked up at him with a shocked, disbelieving look plastered on his face. "M-m-murdering…? But…all I did was push them all back with…"

"One-hundred-foot waves. And the last time I checked, those sort of waves capsizes ships, not simply _push them back_. Oh, and the fact that some ports in the Earth Kingdom were unfortunate enough to discover dozens of rotting, Fire Navy corpses on their shores. Hmph…so much for being a peaceful monk."

Zuko and Iroh bowed their heads down when the topic had been brought up. Spending a week on a rudimentary raft in the ocean had given them a front-seat view to the floating corpses of the Fire Navy soldiers who had invaded the North Pole. Seeing such things for a week still brought a melancholic mood upon them whenever the topic came up. Behind them, Elizabeth and Katsura were bowing their heads in sympathy for the obviously bad memories that event had stirred for their fellow guests.

That, and that Elizabeth really needed to use the bathroom.

At the same time, a furious Katara was coming, once again, to the aid of her distraught Air-Bending friend with all the fury of the mother hen she was so often mistaken for.

"How DARE you act like Aang did something wrong**?**", she snarled. "At least we're actually DOING something out there instead of sitting down in the dumps like a coward!".

Unfazed, Gin turned his bored red eyes towards the irate 14-year-old, promptly arriving to the conclusion that messing around with these kids just wasn't fun anymore.

"I figure that if he's gonna kill the Fire Lord, he has to learn just what sort of stupid stuff he shouldn't do…"

Aang spoke out, "KILL? I'm going to **stop** him, not **kill** him."

Gintoki shifted his irritated gaze towards the young monk. "Even if you do find a way to stop him without killing him, odds are he'll just be executed for war crimes, or he'll escape prison and start a rebellion to destroy the peace you're trying to bring." Absently picking his nose, he continued on. "Besides, if you don't interrupt his plans like that, odds are that he'll be able to place Princess Azula as his heir, and from everything that I've heard, her older brother Zuko sounds like a much better choice for the position than she is."

If looks could kill, the expression Katara was sporting at the mention of Zuko's name would have killed the _yorozuya_ ten times over. "How can you think that **arrogant, pompous, spoiled, heartless**…"

Zuko was wincing at the descriptive portrayal she was giving of his character.

"… brat could **ever** make a good ruler**!**"

Gin's gaze quickly turned into a glare. "From everything that I've heard about him, he has more honor than his father's, grandfather's, and great-grandfather's honor combined. Besides, there's no need to bring any more suffering to either side in this war."

Katara snorted. "Oh, so **we** can suffer, but they don't deserve to be punished**?** They've made the entire world miserable! They killed the Air Nomads! And they took my mother away from me!" She refocused her glare on the silver-haired man. "But then again, I guess you've never suffered or bothered to do a damn thing for anybody in this war."

The shoulders of the closet occupants collectively tensed, and Gintoki's glare magnified tenfold. He stood there for a few seconds, silent, and then he spoke once more.

"When I was eight, the town I lived in was invaded by a troop of vicious Fire-Benders. They proceeded to burn the whole town down… as well as the orphanage that I lived in."

Zuko and Iroh let out small gasps.

"I wasn't in the orphanage at the time, but I still remember the screams of everyone that I grew up with in that orphanage as they died in the flames."

"Four years later, I watched more soldiers burn down my home, attack my friends, and murder the man who adopted me and raised me as his own. Seven years later, I joined up with the army and fought for _every 600 days_ of the Ba Sing Se Siege."

Watching the faces of the quartet twist into shock, he continued ruthlessly. "So you see, little brats, I have done far more than my own fair share. I've killed more Fire soldiers than I've bothered to count, and I've seen more of my friends die than I'd like to remember. So don't think you can judge me when you've never truly experienced war. You just like to think you have so you can tell yourself that you're actually contributing."

He grabbed the door handle and paused for one moment. "I'm also tossing you out because I bet you spent most of your money pigging on dumplings before dinner. Watch your weight before you become large enough to flatten a boar-q-pine. Hope you find your flying rug, Goodbye!" And with that, he slammed the door shut.

As the disgruntled and upset voices of Team Avatar became more and more distant, Gintoki and his two teenage cohorts looked at the closet. Shinpachi spoke up. "All right, sirs, you can…"

Before he finished his sentence, the closet door was promptly broken in half with Iroh, Zuko, and Katsura lying on the floor whilst Elizabeth made a quick and destructive beeline for the bathroom.

The three flattened guests groggily made their way off of the floor while Gintoki once again took his place at the dinner table. Once everyone had made their way to the table (save Elizabeth, who was still in the bathroom doing Agni-knows-what) everyone dove into their meals without formality since they were now hungrier than they were before. After the unusually quiet dinner was over, Gin let out a loud belch and turned towards the ex-royals.

"The bison's probably in Dai Li headquarters."

Correctly interpreting the surprise and confusion on their faces, he continued. "If I know Long Feng, he's probably the one who's keeping the bison hidden so that he can control what the brat does. But since separating the Avatar from his spirit animal usually causes more harm than good, I would rather have us liberate the furry wind-bag before anyone, preferably me, gets hurt." Standing up from the table, he continued talking. "We ought to do it a week from now to avoid suspicion."

"Did you mean it?"

He turned to look at the inquisitive gaze of ex-prince Zuko, and fired a question right back at him.

"Did I mean what?"

"What you said about me…to them…"

Looking at the expectant face of the young teen, Gintoki chuckled and set his hand on Zuko's shoulder.

"Of course I did. I'm not going to bother lying to a few children about what I think about you, even if you are the Fire Lord's son. Now enough mushy crap; let's have some parfait dessert already!"

Zuko nodded in agreement…and allowed a smile to grace his face.

Gintoki gave a puzzled and shocked look at the teen.

"What?"

"Nothing…it's just that you look creepy when you smile."

Said smile was now replaced by a fearsome frown on on Zuko's face. "My smile doesn't look creepy!"

"Yes it does."

"No it doesn't!"

"Yes it does."

"No it doesn't!"

Shaking his head as though he was dealing with a five-year-old, the silver-haired mercenary elaborated on his observation. "Look, there are three main constants in this world: number one, strawberry milk is the elixir of the gods; number two, Kagura's stomach is always bottomless; number three, Zuko is incapable of smiling. So obey the law, mister, or I'll turn you in for smiling in an excessively creepy fashion."

"WHY YOU…!"

Iroh, Katsura, Kagura, and Shinpachi simply exchanged glances with each other, and chuckled, leaving the two bickering swordsmen alone.

_We're gonna be all right._

Elizabeth still hadn't left the bathroom.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Sorry for the wait. I hope this satisfies you all._

_Note: If anyone thought I was doing some character-bashing in this chapter, please don't jump to that conclusion. The passages in this chapter were simple criticisms on what the Gaang did in the Canon Verse, and how I thought they could have handled their decisions better. Please don't flame! I beg you!_

_Thanks for reading! Please Review!_


	8. Chapter 8

_Note: I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama. __**Please review!**_

_Sorry for the stupidly long wait. Enjoy!_

Chapter Eight: Some Family Reunions Just Plain Suck

Zuko wouldn't talk to Iroh or Gin for an entire _week_ after that day.

Oh, it had nothing to do with trying to keep his surging positive emotions under wraps or to prevent himself from voluntarily hugging either of them. No… it wasn't even the fact that he had been selected as the de facto retriever of the stolen Air Bison due to his "mad ninja skills" or to the fact that the Yorozuya crew was too lazy to help out.

It was because they had hired Gin's personal masochistic stalker ninja to aide (*cough*torture*cough*) him in the retrieval. It was hard enough blending into the background of Ba Sing Se and doing his utmost best to sneak around noiselessly and with no small amount of agility without someone beside him constantly praising Gin and criticizing him for his "lack of experience", and reading that sadomasochist magazine whenever she had to take a break from talking.

It really didn't help that insulting or threatening her only made her blush and claim that she already had a boyfriend.

When they had finally led the huge fur-bag out of the hidden base and returned to the tea shop, his first duty as a now-free man was to point out to her where Gintoki was hiding as a form of payback. He also learned that Gin was very capable of sending "if-looks-could-kill" glares even as he was trapped in "your-willing-slave-ninja-hugs". Or that could have been from the grin and middle finger he was giving the trapped swordsman from a safe distance.

It didn't help that Kagura and Shinpachi took this moment to laugh at the scene while Iroh valiantly tried (and failed) at masking his laughter with coughs.

At least now, with the manipulative and balding Long Feng behind bars, Katsura was a bit more manageable; now he was only plotting the horrible deaths of just the Dai Li agents. Oh, and laughing very hard about how the Avatar had blown up the Grand Secretariat's robes. Honestly, did the 12-year-old Air-Bender have no sense of decency? The Shinsengumi were still making a stint about how the group of children had blown past the guards without receiving a proper punishment for such rude behavior.

All the same, today seemed to be relatively simple for the exiled duo; the business was running well, Zuko was feeling much more relaxed, and Iroh was simply having the time of his life. And as usual, their life was going to go straight to hell in a matter of minutes, and all it took was a trio of very familiar messengers to topple their well-balanced routine.

"Hey, Grumpy-Lord of Frowns!"

Zuko winced and turned to look at Kagura, who looked quite pleased with herself, along with Gintoki and Shinpachi, looking slightly embarrassed (well, Shinpachi anyway; Gin's expression was still in its perpetually-bored state). Kagura had been going through several nicknames of which to call the unlucky ex-Prince, and this was her eleventh (and worst) nickname so far.

If he was lucky this time, it would be the last nickname idea she would come up with.

"And what makes me _so lucky_", he said with much sarcasm, "to have the gluttonous princess herself enter our teashop?"

She huffed and turned her head.

"Well, the new soldiers in the city, of course; did the _all-knowing_ prince not hear the news?"

Zuko just gave her his patent _you-are-an-idiot-and-there's-no-****ing-way-in-hell-I-am-playing-games-with-you_ glare.

With such courtesy on his face, the teenage Yato had little choice but to spill the news.

While picking her nose, of course.

"Some dimwits in these really poofy rags that call themselves the Kyoshi Warriors are here. I want you to come and laugh behind their backs with me."

Now naturally, Zuko did not believe this to be a good idea. While he could certainly defeat (and out-sneak) the Warriors, he could not do so with revealing himself. On the other hand, it was very likely that they had come to Ba Sing Se to give aide to the Avatar, and keeping an eye on them could serve him better so he could stay the hell away from both them and the Avatar's tag-a-long crew. He wasn't sure they had forgotten his face after how he had nearly burned down their village some months ago.

Of course, as he was thinking about this, Kagura had taken the liberty of grabbing his arm and forcefully dragging him with her and Shinpachi when she decided he was taking too long. He would have protested, but he realized that doing so to a girl who could break his spine like a twig was not a smart move, and wisely kept his mouth shut.

_:::Scene Break:::_

It wasn't that hard to locate the new arrivals. All it took was looking for a street that wasn't overly-crowded with people and by looking for the ridiculous Kyoshi Warrior costumes.

It was then that the ex-prince decided that something wasn't right.

Zuko hadn't survived exile for three years with only his uncle's wisdom and sheer tenacity on his side. He noticed when there were facts completely out of place in what he saw. Only three warriors? They had numbered to, at the very least, seven when he had invaded their island. Unless they had foolishly attacked an entire Fire Nation company head-on, there was no real reason for there to be so few of them in number. Not to mention the fact that despite how well they were walking, they were obviously not familiar with wearing such a uniform. _So, imposters. But who would even think of invading the Impenetrable City in such a dishonorable fashion?_

One of the warriors spoke up; unfortunately, Zuko was capable of hearing every word.

With an excitable undertone to her voice, the false-warrior said "What a wonderful city! I've never seen anything so big and grand!"

Zuko's heart took a detour to his stomach.

"Indeed," one of the warriors said with an emotionless tone, "it certainly is incredible. Didn't they recently fend off an invasion?"

His heart had now leaped off his stomach and landed on his lower intestine.

"It's certainly a credit to the intelligence and strength of the city's soldiers to have fended off a contraption like that drill we saw earlier. Perhaps we could have an audience with the general who planned the counter-attack?", the last warrior questioned with a carefully controlled, smooth voice.

Zuko's heart, meet the bottom of Zuko's left foot.

He had stayed frozen in that position for two minutes until his compatriots had finally noticed and decided to snap him out of it with sharp kicks to his shins.

Understandably, his gratitude was in very low supply at the moment, and the first instinct he had was not to return the favor (tempting as it was), but to rush back to the shop as fast as he could with his companions right behind him in order to warn his uncle with all due haste.

Iroh had just finished his last batch of tea when he heard a slam, and turned to find his nephew, young Shinpachi, and Miss Kagura all in a breathless state entering his tea shop through the window, of all things. Such an entrance was more suitable for fugitives and scouts…

Oh, who was he kidding?

Nonetheless, neither of them would have rushed here with all speed available if there wasn't any dire news that he needed to hear.

He asked them.

Zuko responded.

Iroh dropped his tea.

_:::Scene Break:::_

"So, basically, your sister, a Fire-Bending prodigy and Master with a tendency to blast anything she doesn't particularly care for, is here inside Ba Sing Se along with a fancy-pants acrobat who can beat you with love-taps and another girl who can throw sharp and pointy objects like no one's business."

Zuko nodded in confirmation to Gintoki's statement.

The mentioned swordsman rubbed his chin with his brow furrowed. "This is a bit of a problem."

Zuko was now fighting the urge to throttle the mercenary for his vast understatement. Fortunately, common sense won out, and he controlled his emotions enough for his next sentence. "The only question now is what we are supposed to do about it?"

Laying back further, Gintoki replied. "Beat the crap outta them, of course."

This time Iroh had to restrain Zuko from throttling the man by yanking his hair (to the embarrassment of both). "That wouldn't be such a wise plan; my niece is nothing if not cunning, and a full frontal assault would be nothing less than suicide if we approached her in such a manner."

"What I'm concerned about is how she'll utterly muck things up for the rest of us even more."

_Oh, this just __can't__ be good for us_, Zuko thought. "And what exactly does that mean?"

Gintoki gave a surprisingly stern stare towards the rest of them, which was surprising because usually his face would stay the same for hours on end. "There are still plenty of Dai Li around, a locked-up secretariat, and several corrupt nobles just waiting for your _darling_ sister to manipulate them. If she gets her hands on those resources, we'll be lucky to last a day."

Yeah, that didn't sound too good.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean, corrupt nobles?"

"How do you think Long Feng was able to make the king his personal puppet? A secretariat only has so much influence over the city's laws as well as the Dai Li, not to mention a toddler king. There's a dozen nobles known as the Tendo Sect who have been reaping the benefits of the Dai Li's treachery for twenty years. They've got plenty of power, as well as plenty of greed to latch on to anything in order to keep themselves in power. It doesn't matter if the key to doing just that is trusting a Fire Princess who would stab them the instant their backs were turned."

Iroh and Zuko looked at each other with worry written all over their faces. If Azula managed to get a strong grip on powerful individuals like these, not to mention the Dai Li, there would be little to no hope for Ba Sing Se staying out of the Fire Nation's grasp.

_Knowing Azula, she'll chew them up and spit them out in no time flat._

Iroh then posed a reasonable if brief question. "How are we to prepare for this?"

Gintoki grinned.

It was never a good sign when he grinned.

_**1 minute later…**_

"No."

"Nephew…"

"No. Absolutely not."

"Nephew, you must admit it's a perfectly good solution…"

"Uncle! They're essentially begging us for our hard-earned money to bribe important public officials!"

"Actually, we're just gonna bribe the Shinsengumi."

Zuko glared at the unwelcome trio. "It's still dishonest, and I'll have no part in any of it."

Iroh sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Nephew, there's no other choice. If we are to confront Azula, we will need some official support to keep her grip off of Ba Sing Se, and we'll need it even more if we are to confront the Dai Li on top of that. And this is the only way we'll ever get their attention or help."

Zuko was now at a point where he had to choose between being honorable or being a survivor.

His survival instincts told him that he'd be able to outmaneuver Azula this way.

His honor told him it wasn't right.

Instincts told him that they'd have a better chance of seeing tomorrow if they followed this plan.

Honor still claimed it wasn't right.

Honor and instincts briefly scuffled with each other, stopping when Instincts promptly kicked Honor out of the way and told Honor where to shove it.

Instincts won out, much to Zuko's dismay.

He turned to the eager and hopeful faces of his uncle and newfound friends.

"Fine. But if you even consider bribing them with any porno, I make sure that no one will be able to find your bodies after this is over."

****

_Sorry for the wait._

_Note: In the Gintama anime, there are a group of aliens known as the Tendo Sect who essentially control the government while using the Shogun as a puppet. I placed them in here because Long Feng needed some sort of backup because he's only the Grand Secretariat. This essentially means he's the boss secretary of the city, and a secretary, no matter how respected or powerful they are, couldn't possibly take control of and corrupt the Dai Li, or lie and control the king (regardless that he was a mere toddler when he became king) and use that power without some serious political and financial backing. So I placed the Tendo Sect in there._

_Thanks for reading! Please review!_


	9. Chapter 9

Note: I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama. **Please review!**

Finally, a piece of action. Enjoy!

_Chapter Nine: I Knew This Would End in Blood…I Mean Tears!_

_Katara was not in a good mood._

_In all actuality, this is to be expected when you've discovered that the Fire Nation princess and her two lackeys had infiltrated Ba Sing Se in the guise of Kyoshi Warriors and had imprisoned you inside a glowing green cavern with no chance of escaping save with Earth-Bending. And those Dai Li bastards were helping her out at the same time!_

_Katara seethed. The group had assumed that revealing Long Feng's treachery had been enough to stop this sort of bull**** from happening, but they hadn't counted the idea that the Dai Li would commit treason without the Secretariat's guidance. The fact that they had overlooked something so obvious made her swell with rage, which led her to Water-Bending her frustrations out on some poor innocent boulders._

_She really hoped that one of her friends would find her soon; preferably Aang or Sokka, though she would even appreciate Toph's sarcastic presence if it meant getting out of this dismal prison._

_:::Elsewhere:::_

Toph suddenly sneezed, and was pissed that she had to get snot everywhere just as she had metal-bended the crap on her "bounty-hunters".

_:::Scene End:::_

The only way this could get any worse was if the arrogant Zuko was trapped inside here with her as well, but there wasn't any chance of that happening.

:::Scene Break:::

Avatar fans watching this cackled at the irony.

:::Scene End:::

Eventually, Katara had finished demolishing innocent rocks and sat down to brood some more on the unfairness of the whole situation. They were supposed to get the King's support, invade the Fire Nation on the day of the eclipse, and end the damn war…with Aang defeating the Fire Lord of course. Instead, they had been scattered for whatever reason and she found herself in this dank dungeon with no way out. Totally unfair.

Yeah. Totally.

Fortunately, she only stewed there for an hour before Aang, Sokka and Toph crashed through the walls to her rescue.

Which led to their current conversation.

"Your parents sent _bounty hunters_ after you**?**"

"_Azula's_ here**?**"

Needless to say, it wasn't that complex.

"Yeah, and she's totally going down once we find her in here." Katara said with a sense of finality.

Aang spoke up. "Shouldn't we try to get away from here and conserve our energy? I mean, they've got the Dai Li working with them, and Azula's pretty vicious, so…"

"Twinkle-Toes! Quit your yammering and pay attention!" Toph interrupted. "There's another opening up ahead!"

"Yes!" Sokka cried.

"And there's company waiting for us up there."

"Aw, damn it!"

"Sokka! Language!"

"Sorry, sorry…"

Katara's scolding was cut off short when they had abruptly reached the opening…

And found the full force of the Dai Li waiting for them. Complete with an Azula, Long Feng, and complementary Ty Lee and Mai.

Azula and Long Feng smirked.

Two puppies died as a result.

And the fight began.

They were quickly cut off from each other and were forced to fend for themselves. Katara had gathered her water around her in an octopus formation and was batting away any Dai Li that came too close. Aang was pushing back attacking agents and Long Feng with rounds of Air-Bending and Earth-Bending. Toph and Sokka were using their Earth-Bending and boomerang respectively to knock out as many Dai Li as possible, while dodging attacks from Ty Lee and Mai. And the Dai Li suffered great loss of pride when they found themselves being beaten into the ground by a 12-year-old girl.

Don't feel bad, boys. After all, she's the resident badass of the series.

Azula simply stood back and watched as she waited for her plan to fall into action like the smug, lazy bitch that she was.

It did when the attacking forces abruptly backed off and in their unexpected break, the Gaang found themselves short on breath and stamina.

Being the warm and compassionate being that she was, Azula decided to step forward and offer them the standard surrender-or-die ultimatum. How sweet of her.

With her smirk firmly fastened on, she spoke up. "Now that you're sufficiently comfortable," with glares aimed with great intensity at her, "you should probably utilize what precious few brains you have at your disposal and consider your situation. You're outnumbered. Outmatched. And obviously outsmarted. So I'll make this as short and simple as I possibly can; surrender, or you will die."

Spreading her arms out, her smirk intensified. "After all, the world's best Earth-Benders are on my side against you."

"Sorry to disappoint."

The surprise that the sudden, cold voice brought was quickly shifted towards the fact that the Dai Li had viciously knocked the princess and her cohorts across the room while knocking Long Feng's head off with a fast (literal) boulder attack, leaving his body to bleed out a dark red pool. While the three Fire Nation girls struggled to stay on their feet with several bruises and bleeding cuts (Azula had one on her forehead bleeding profusely) and with the Gaang looking on in shock, their attention was quickly diverted by the next words spoken.

"I'd make a pun about extinguishing your flame, but that's too cliché for this momentous occasion."

Locating the source of the noise, they looked upward to see a rather imposing figure. He was average in height with black hair and a sole, green eye with the other hidden beneath bandages. His clothes consisted of sandals with a flowery purple and yellow kimono while holding a smoking pipe in his right hand. However, the most intimidating characteristic he possessed was the cold bloodlust shining in his visible eye.

Aang was scared witless.

Katara was confused.

Toph was wary of the new intruder.

Sokka thought he looked cool holding the smoking pipe like that.

Appa growled.

Momo farted.

The figure smirked at the expressions below him, and spoke. "It's really quite amusing to see royalty fall so far like this, especially when they've discovered that you've already stolen their own _brilliant_ strategies." He blew out a stream of smoke lazily, and refocused his murderous gaze back towards the surprised Team Avatar. "Not that I really ought to bother with pitiful brats like yourselves, but I think introductions are in order." He smirked mockingly and took a quick bow. " I am Shinsuke Takasugi. It's an honor to meet you all."

The sarcasm lining his voice in that statement was so heavy even Aang and Ty Lee could recognize it.

Everyone else besides the Dai Li was pissed. Big surprise.

Azula quickly recovered once she heard the insult, and quickly (and shakily) got to her feet to launch her standard blue fire…when 2 warning arrows passed before her face and another one imbedded itself in her left shoulder.

This quickly drew everyone's attention to the group of swordsmen and archers that came out of hiding.

The man named Takasugi smirked once more and inhaled more smoke from his pipe and exhaled. "Oh, I forgot to thank you for leading me to the Tendo, princess, as well as the generals. It was a real pain trying to find them on my own. Would you like to see the fruits of labor?"

Of course, considering the man's own twisted sense of humor, it consisted of his men emptying a bag full of bloody, lacerated corpses for his victims to behold. As an unfortunate result, the Gaang all fought the urge to vomit their respective lunches (Except Toph; she'd seen worse in some Rumbles gone bad).

Their expressions quickly turned to fear when they saw a bruised Earth King Kuei (and his bear) being held hostage by a swordsman with wild black hair and sunglasses, as well as a strange guitar on his back. (Bansai Kawakami)

Takasugi's smirk became even more twisted. "I'm usually not one for dramatic speeches, but this moment is just too good to pass up. Now, my dear," he said with a sarcastically dramatic voice, "This is the part where I kill Ozai's favorite heir, send her body back to him in pieces, and wait until he comes here full force to annihilate this disgusting city."

This was the part where the Gaang got shocked out of their stupor and decided to violently protest. With words. Shocker.

"What! How could you even _think_ of doing something like that**?**" Aang cried out in shock.

"There are innocent people living within this city trying to survive! You can't possibly wish for their deaths!" Sokka yelped (or as he likes to think, shout in a very manly way).

"What kind of **monster** are you**?**" Katara snarled at Takasugi's calm expression.

Toph simply curled up her fists so tightly the knuckles began to whiten, but stood her ground and waited for an opening.

Meanwhile, Takasugi simply snorted at their complaints and pinned them down with another one-eyed stare. "One that realizes the truth, fish-bitch. That this world is way too rotten to even think of saving it."

He inhaled and exhaled once more from his pipe, and refocused his attention. "Even if you did manage to end the war, you worthless, pathetic excuse of an Avatar," to which Aang flinched and Katara glared, "do you really think you'll be able to save what's left of the world?"

His smirk quickly formed into a fearsome frown.

"Your cowardly and pathetically idealistic people have been wiped off the face of the Earth, brat."

Aang flinched, but narrowed his eyes as well at the insult.

"The Southern Tribe is nothing more than a washed-up hovel for broken and utterly useless leftovers, as I can see now."

Sokka and Katara both snarled and gave the man their best death glares.

"The Northern Tribe has degraded to a cowardly village of bastards hoping someone besides themselves will get wiped out instead, and not a single soul there would help anyone outside their own."

"The Fire Nation…well, it's pretty damn obvious."

"And the Earth Kingdom is merely a wasteland for greed and sin to fester, with half of it's people content to ignore everything that happens outside their homes. With cowards and fools making up the army's structure, and the most cowardly and pathetic ones at the top, as you can see." He spoke, gesturing to Kuei.

"The only thing left to do…is to have the world commit hara-kiri. Once the Fire Nation has incinerated the Earth Kingdom to avenge it's fallen princess, it's only a matter of assassinating Ozai to leave them leaderless and lost. They fall into a craze, destroying everything at random, eventually burning down what's left of both the North and South Poles…"

"And all I have to do is watch. And when everything is said and done, I'll be standing alone, with my black beast satiated with the world's destruction, and the complete and utter silence that will follow after."

Everyone, even the Fire Nation trio, looked up at the murderous creature on the ledge with fear and horror at what he proposed to do. Even more so at the band of followers who were going along with his mad machinations.

He sighed. "Ah, well, it was nice talking to you, but I'm afraid your time living is at an end. Boys," he called out, "be good fellows and kill the Avatar and his troupe. But leave the princess alive. We need to mail her corpse when it's fresh."

It was the end of the road, the final finish, the last hour alive, the day of their final breath, the time to bite the dust, buy the farm, kick the bucket, go six feet under, feed the daisies, feed the worms, lose important organs…

"Alright, enough dramatic silence."

And the dark moment was promptly ruined when a couple of Dai Li at the back suddenly pulled out weapons and quickly slew the dozen or so Dai Li nearest them with swords and umbrella a-swinging. The costumes slid off to reveal the true unholy trio in their blood-covered glory, looking incredibly awkward yet strangely cool at the same time.

Sword in hand, their silver-haired leader took a few steps forward, raised the sword in an incredibly cool pose…

And as always, Gintoki totally ruined the moment once again.

"I'd say something really profound right now, but we were in a hurry and I didn't have time to rehearse my speech."

_**Fin**_

_And a new update at last!_

_And some action as well. If anyone thinks I was being a bit gruesome with Takasugi's part, in my defense I could totally see him using macabre tactics like that. It's up to you to agree or disagree with me. As for the Gaang, I wasn't trying to bash them or Ty Lee. I only note that Katara (as we all know) can get very vicious when she's lost her temper, and that Ty Lee and Aang aren't known for reading hostile atmospheres or people very well. As for the Dai Li betraying Azula for Takasugi, I figured if she (the __Fire Nation__ princess) could get them to betray the man who led them for 20 years, then Takasugi could easily get them on his side and have them betray Azula and the Earth Kingdom._

_Note: hara-kiri is another term for seppeku (ritualistic suicide) which is when defeated samurai would disembowel themselves and have a trusted friend decapitate them when they had failed their lord through losing an important battle or some other action labeled as dishonorable._

_Please review!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Note: I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama. __**Please review!**_

_Onwards for more coolness!_

Chapter Ten: Of Blood, Shocks, and Lavender Locks

The silence was so deafening, you could have heard a drop of water hit the floor.

Considering that they were inside an underground cave, that metaphor was spot on for accuracy.

A flood could have occurred and the Gaang wouldn't have noticed. They, along with Takasugi and Azula, paused in shock at the sudden appearance. Aang looked on with some measure of shock at the bloodshed, whilst Katara, Sokka, and Toph were simply very surprised. Takasugi's pipe had almost fallen out of his fingers.

Meanwhile the Yorozuya trio had shifted their weapons in a more comfortable stance since the posing was starting to make their muscles cramp. Shinpachi's eyes darted between the Dai Li and the Kiheitai, waiting for an attack; Kagura picked her nose; Gintoki simply turned his head over towards the Gaang's general direction.

"Wow. I was right; you do suck."

Before the Gaang could either: snarl (Katara), attempt to glare (Aang), attempt to snarl (Sokka), or Earth-Bend their asses, they were all cut off by a very disturbing sound.

No, it wasn't the beginning of a politician's speech.

In fact, it was the disturbingly hyena-like laughter coming from the obviously amused Takasugi. All of the focus was redirected at the amoral terrorist as his cackling quieted down and shifted his attention to the silver-haired intruder.

"My, my. How ironic for the eve of the future destruction of Earth and Fire Nations alike to be interrupted by none other than the Shiroyasha himself. I applaud your theatricality, _old friend_."

The sarcasm emphasized on his last two words were easily ignored by Team Avatar. Sokka was the only one who actually caught the title thrown at the silver mercenary.

_Shiroyasha? White Demon? Why the hell did the creepy smoker call him that? Weird._ However, Sokka turned his head to get a good look at the rest of the team and the three crazy Fire Nation girls to see if anything had changed.

He got quite a surprise.

_Toph…_ he thought in complete shock. _Is Toph…shaking?…Did she just step…back?_

Indeed, the young Water Tribe prince (admit it, he is one by their standards) was witness to an extremely rare event of the Blind Bandit herself, self-proclaimed best Earth-Bender in the World, had just stepped back with her hands shaking and a hint of fear on her face. Further looks towards the three injured Fire girls showed something just as extreme for Sokka to witness.

All three of the girls; the happy one, the gloomy one, and even the crazy one; they all began to shake slightly, whilst fear crossed over their faces even more apparent than Toph's own.

"W-what the hell…?"

At Sokka's confused statement, Aang and Katara both turned around to see what was up, only to have the same shocked dispositions cross over their faces as well.

They stared for only a few seconds more before they were once again interrupted by the increasingly unwelcome laughter of Takasugi. They redirected their focus to him once more to see him gazing at them with his sole, cold eye.

"It figures that the pea-brained, inbred peasants wouldn't know anything mundane like war legends living outside their pathetic little hideaways."

Ignoring their sputters of indignation, the one-eyed terrorist continued his monologue while keeping them in his line of sight.

"That man standing there is a veritable war hero of the Earth Kingdom, and the most efficient non-Bending killer alive. The same man who fought with the most powerful Fire-Bender in the world to a draw." He snorted in amusement. "Even now, there are still stories about how he stained his sword and clothes with his enemies' blood, cutting through them like paper…"

"Spirits, don't you ever shut up?"

The terrified looks dawning on the Gaang's faces and Takasugi's wistfulness were thankfully interrupted by the White Demon himself, who looked really tired of Takasugi's posturing.

"That's all in the past. Right now, I'm just trying to live a normal life where I don't have to watch my friends die or slaughter soldiers for a failed cause. Besides…", he paused, and then raised his sword upwards once more and gave his former comrade a fearsome glare, "I told you that the next time I saw you, I would cut you down."

Takasugi's smirk widened. "Exactly how are you to accomplish that? I am up here, you're down there. I have the world's strongest Earth-Benders and my own personal army. You only possess your own rag-tag team and a couple of snot-nosed brats. And I also have the monarch of the Earth Kingdom at knife-point. Exactly what makes you think you'll be able to survive this round, _Gin-chan_?"

Frowning at the sarcasm emphasized on his nickname, Gintoki quickly collected himself and sent an irritating grin towards the terrorist group. "Because I possess something that you've already wasted."

The now-irritated Cyclops snarled back "And what might that be, you bastard?"

"A sneak attack."

Confusion briefly took hold of the chain-smoking killer with bad fashion taste until a huge surge of heat swept across the platform and knocked him off his feet.

A cursory look to the side showed the source of the heat to be a bath of flames that had burned several of his men. The source of which was currently riding the Sadaharu Express with Kuei in their arms.

Gintoki tried valiantly to not chuckle at the ridiculous sight of Zuko and Iroh pulling off a heroic rescue on the back of his oversized pooch. The image of them holding the shocked Earth King under their arm didn't help in the least.

Takasugi was not so touched by the humor of the situation.

"Dai Li! Kiheitai!" He snarled. "Kill them all!"

And thus the battle began yet again.

The Dai Li made quick gestures to bombard the swordsman with boulders, but they soon encountered a problem. This problem came from the chunk of rock that Kagura had tossed in their direction and her subsequent kicks and punches to their bodies. One agent attempted to sneak behind her, but ended up bleeding out on the ground thanks to a courtesy sword swing of Shinpachi. After sending off Sadaharu with the hapless Earth King on his back, Zuko and Iroh quickly covered their backs by sending multiple fire shots towards nearby Dai Li and Kiheitai archers aiming their arrows at unsuspecting backs. Before a trio of Dai Li could send their rock gloves towards them in a sneak attack, Gintoki had already made a few quick steps and perforated the unfortunate agents. As one, they all quickly grouped up back to back to cover the upcoming assaults.

During which, they decided to have an informative exchange with each other.

Gintoki glanced at Zuko with a disappointed look. "That entrance just plain stunk. You were supposed to jump in like big damn heroes at the same time we did. Don't tell me the great Avatar-Tracker got lost in a little cave like this."

Zuko glared at the offensive swordsman. "Our _apologies _for not making it in time to add the appropriate drama! You put us in charge of your mutt, so we had to clean up after him when he decided to crap right in the middle of the street!"

"Ah, suck it up. We've been doing that for a while, and you don't see us complaining."

"Because you've been having us do it for you in exchange for more customers! It's nothing more than being an extortionist!"

"I see it as combining the goodness of my heart with my masterful business senses."

Unfortunately, two agents took this opportunity to attack with rock-enforced punches.

I say unfortunately because all it got them was decapitation and a lethally burnt face.

Without moving from their position. Yes, they're that badass.

They cast simultaneous disdainful glares towards the remaining cannon fodder. "How about we knock these guys to the ground, and then we go back to me outwitting you in conversation?" "With that perm? Not a chance."

To an exasperated Iroh's and Shinpachi's, and impatient Kagura's, relief, all five of them shot off to kick ass and eat pickled seaweed. The latter was for Kagura of course.

**:::Scene Transition:::**

_When did…Zuko?…Here…fighting… not…what…why isn't anything making sense__**?**_

Indeed, Team Avatar and Team Azula were all very disconcerted and uncertain about how to process this new surprise.

Katara couldn't process the idea that Zuko wasn't taking advantage of their helplessness to nab Aang. Sokka couldn't process the idea that Zuko had grown out his hair. Aang was simply uncomfortable. And Toph…

Had simply gotten impatient and decided to start curb-stomping their enemies once more.

Eventually, the rest of them got their act together and decided to contribute, all the while staying away from Zuko's group until they knew what to do with them.

Team Azula, on the other hand, decided to swallow what was left of their very sizable pride and move out of the line of battle. All the while, Azula kept wondering why Zuko wasn't acting weak like usual; Ty Lee, underneath her shaken nerves, couldn't help thinking how cute the Shiroyasha and his bespectacled sidekick looked. And Mai…was blushing. Not too much, but still…

Zuko looked rather dashing even with the scar on his face.

That thought made her blush a slight bit more.

Right off the bat, Gintoki got paired with Zuko once more and was moving in tandem to simultaneously kill the enemies on his side and to provide the ex-Prince with cover that Fire-Bending couldn't provide. In the meantime, Zuko kept his flames surging towards the Dai Li and Kiheitai further away from them to take them out and bring them in closer for the both of them to dispatch them that much more quickly.

Meters away, Iroh was busy providing cover for Kagura and Shinpachi's back-to-back teamwork and also proving that just because he had let his waist expand didn't mean that his kidney punches were any less formidable or vomit-inducing. Kagura swiped her umbrella with swift efficiency, making sure to make as many crushing groin-shots as she could, and landing punches to jaws and kicking shins too. Shinpachi simply contended himself with stabs and dismemberment. Up till his sword got knocked away.

They would have ended him right there, but his trusty body toss via his fingers up their nostrils ended up with them tossed across the room.

Even Toph winced at the agony-inducing move.

After his sword was quickly retrieved, he managed to take out another random minion sneaking up behind Kagura, while Iroh aimed a mighty Dragon Breath that charred and scattered the foot soldiers and agents coming at them from the left.

As more soldiers moved down the rock faces, Kagura was struck with a brilliant (aka crazy) plan. Without any warning (no surprise) and ignoring his yelp of indignation (as usual), she picked him up and threw him at the advancing horde. Fortunately, he managed to collect himself enough to raise his sword and cut at the nearest goons. Unfortunately, he still ended up landing flat on his face. Groaning, he managed to get up and cut away at the remaining men near him, and then turned to face his human catapult.

"KAGURA-CHAN**!** WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT**?**"

"Oh, don't be a baby. You're still alive, aren't ya? It was the fastest and most entertaining option I had."

"YOU THREW ME ACROSS THIS CAVE JUST TO LAUGH IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT TO THE DEATH**?**"

She pondered for a few seconds. "…Yep."

Poor Shinpachi looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel. He was snapped out of it when a tongue of fire lashed out over his shoulder and burnt two thugs that had snuck up behind him. Both he and Kagura looked over at Iroh and his smoking fist, including the scolding, paternal look he sent to both of them, making them feel like six-year-olds who had been caught fighting over the cookie jar that neither of them were supposed to even touch.

The collective attention of Team Glucose-Tea was caught by the next wave of minions coming from behind, at the prodding of Takasugi's very, very pissed-off scowl. Gintoki and Zuko raised their arms defensively, ready to burn/slice the mob, with Iroh, Kagura, and Shinpachi ready to do the same.

All of a sudden, the mob was suddenly pulled upward with shock on their faces and separated from their weapons. They were then pulled into…very…interesting positions.

Gin and Zuko felt their stomachs fall down to their knees.

"The bells of Gion Temple ring for you…'all is vanity' toll the bells."

They turned as one neck to see a very familiar, lavender, bespectacled form. Ayame Sarutobi turned her head and pushed up her frames.

"I am the assassin Sa-chan, ready for any human disposals you may require…" She looked at Gin and turned away with a massive blush. "…or a good spanking. Either one is fine."

Gin and Zuko looked at each other.

They then looked to the ceiling.

And shook their fists.

"YOU ****ING HATE US, DON'T YOU**?**"

_**Fin**_

_Hope you like it. Please review!_

_PS: Sorry for the wait._


	11. Chapter 11

_Note: I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama. __**Please review!**_

_Note 2: To __Twilley__, Gin-san has brought in actual blades to really serious fights, like the Benizakura and Yoshiwara arcs. And as for him being too informative…well, it is anime, and couldn't you see him acting like this for real? Thanks for the reviews._

Chapter Eleven: Clarification, Confusion, & Cruel Machinations

_Why does my life not make sense? WHY?_

Given the situation and that it was Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe posing that question, it stayed well within the situation they had found themselves in.

Nothing had gone according to plan. First, Azula was here. Second, the Dai Li were still evil and still determined to make them miserable. Thirdly, there was that evil one-eyed dude who, despite his rather awesome fashion sense, was absolutely set on starting a plan for international genocide. Fourth, and most importantly…

The. Female. Ninja. Masochist. _Tui and La help us._

Not that the presence of Zuko and Iroh wasn't disconcerting, nor was their weird alliance with that silver-haired jerk, but the masochist was their first concern.

This mostly had to do with the fact that through the midst of the very important battle she continued to fling herself at Gintoki and make several, several descriptive remarks about what the two of them should do afterwards, while Gin and Zuko kept yelling at each other about whose fault it was that she had managed to follow them here.

The real kicker of her entrance was when she completely ripped off her clothes wearing nothing but a red, skin-tight leather suit that left her arms and legs bare, with some cleavage visible enough to distract any hot-blooded male or female that didn't hold a grudge against her for illegal stalking.

And did she distract. Some of the Dai Li were even stopped by her before the other fighters dealt out blows that sent them a few dozen feet backward.

Then again, her rather risqué choice of clothing was a bit fortunate for them seeing how Takasugi had eventually grown tired of seeing the Dai Li batted like flies, so he simply brought in his reserves of customary Harusame pirates and bloodthirsty "revolutionaries" under his command. Fortunate because most (if not all) of the men under his command had frequented a brothel at least once in their lives and so were not immune to the scantily-clad charms of "Sa-chan". Unfortunately, this did not prevent all of their foes from doing their best to kill them with assorted rocks, blades, and the occasional shovel.

What could they say? Sometimes criminals need convenient weaponry.

Unfortunately, the assorted thugs were about to get some aid from their charismatic (and insane) leader.

**:::Changed POV:::**

Shinsuke Takasugi did not regard himself as an insane and violent man.

Ruthlessly pragmatic, a bit ill-tempered and completely misunderstood, but not insane and violent.

Looking down on the rather mixed battle that was taking place, his "ruthless pragmatism" (*cough* bloodlust *cough*) took in the progress. As far as the Avatar's group went, they were showing a surprising amount of calm and skill for kids who shouldn't be war-experienced in the first place, except Toph, 'cause she's that badass…

_**Author, shut up and stick to the storyline or I'll set Otae's cooking on you.**_

Ahem…anyway, Team Avatar was having their own difficulties with not only the ruthlessness of the Dai Li, but properly approaching the non-bending enemies since none of them wanted to maim them. The swift, skilled water whips and air blasts along with well-placed boulders and boomerang strikes were able to bludgeon and injure, but not enough to knock out or kill. And their subsequent hesitations made the battle even between the two forces.

Satisfied with their inexperience, Takasugi turned his attention to Gintoki. And found himself disappointed once more.

The Yorozuya trio and the exiled Princes were working well in tandem, using their skills to knock their frontal opponents and having their backs covered by one of their friends.

And their blows were keeping their enemies down.

Unfortunately, being Gintoki's former comrade gave him some insight about his strengths and weaknesses, and the Kiheitai leader opened his mouth to do just that.

"Look over there! There's a fresh batch of chocolate sundaes with strawberries on top!"

And even in the midst of battle, Gin's love of sugar stole his attention away for a few moments…enough time for a Dai Li officer to notice and send a boulder smashing into his abdomen and knocking him halfway across the room.

Noticing a lack of overall activity, Shinpachi and Kagura looked over and saw their friend and employer laying over to their right in a heap with some blood dripping on the cave's floor.

"Gin-san!"

"Gin-chan!"

As they made movements to go and lend him aid, some of the surviving pirates rushed them from behind, only to be harshly burnt by a tired panting Iroh, whose expression was mingled with concern for his comrade and exasperation over the carelessness of the teenaged duo.

"Stop. We cannot afford to become distracted. And he would want you two to keep your lives intact and working."

He stopped and gave them both a sly grin. "Don't worry, he will survive. And afterwards, he will no doubt swindle and waste my good money on a tank-load of ice-cream and strawberry milk."

The two teenagers responded with knowing grins and quickly launched themselves back into battle.

Meanwhile, the Yorozuya himself found himself groaning in pain and quickly grasped his abdomen to check his wounds. Fortunately, while there was several serious bruises everywhere he touched, somehow he managed to escape with bruised and not broken bones. The gashes and cuts from the boulder could be addressed later. What was really fortunate was that none of his…_kintama…_were injured in the assault.

He also reflected that it was a miracle he hadn't been wounded from his journey across the room. _I must have landed on something soft_, he thought.

Unfortunately, he wasn't that far off.

"Gintoki, kindly use your legs to remove your ass from my face."

The man in question looked down to see a pair of familiar, irate eyes boring holes into his skull.

"Oh, Zuko. I would remember that snarly tone of voice anywhere.", Gintoki said in surprise. "What are you doing down there?"

If possible, the prince's glare became even more irritated than it was before.

"Oh, I was feeling a bit tired and I decided that the best place to take a break was under your rear end, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M DOING UNDER HERE?"

Lifting himself off the unfortunate teen so that his manhood wouldn't meet a horrible, deep-fried death, he tossed back a rebuttal as he lifted Zuko to his feet.

"Well, you see, sonny, sometimes there are occurrences when a man or woman is born and grows up to discover that they're actually batting for the other team…"

The look on his face suggested that Zuko was using every amount of his considerable willpower to not set the other man's hair on fire.

He was about to deliver a scathing retort, and a swift kick to Gin's ankle, when another body was thrown their way.

It was Shinpachi, whose attention had been diverted when he had risked a quick glance in Gintoki's direction for peace of mind when another boulder hit him by chance and sent him in their direction. Fortunately, as he lifted himself up, it had been an accidental blow with a relatively small boulder.

"Are you okay, Shinpachi? Speak to me! Come on!"

Shinpachi felt gratitude swell up in him, as Zuko felt some compassion swell up for such kindhearted words.

Both the gratitude and compassion died horrible, swift deaths when they realized that Gin was speaking to Shinpachi's cracked glasses, which had fallen off his nose during his impromptu flight.

With no small amount of indignation , Zuko lashed out. "You idiot, Shinpachi is over there! Those are just his glasses!"

"Right. And Shinpachi wears glasses."

"But Shinpachi is over there, you jerk!"

Lifting the lenses up, Gin held them out for Zuko's benefit. "Take a closer look, your highness; these are the real Shinpachi."

"They're just two connected frames!"

"Think about it for a second. These glasses, or the plain-looking shell standing over there. Which one is the real nerdy member of the team?"

Zuko's face was turning as red as his fire-bending with rapid speed, but he was quickly cut off by a pissed Shinpachi who swiped the lenses from Gin's grasp. "Just hand them over, you jackass."

Yet another unoriginal sneak attack by three pirates who couldn't think of anything more creative crept up behind Gin's unknowing back, only to be cut down by aggressive blows from Shinpachi's blade. As Gin turned in the other direction, both black-haired delivered coordinated and very sensitive kicks to the silver swordsman's shins, leaving him with a cry of pain and muttering curses under his breath as all three of them joined the battle once more with more vigor than before, due to sheer frustration of course.

Up on the cliffs, Takasugi was suffering a similar bout of frustration as he surveyed the scene below him. As usual, Gintoki's interference had completely thrown his plans off course, and now even when he had brought in back-ups, neither the Avatar's team nor Gintoki's team had suffered any fatalities as of yet. His strategies would be thrown back for a considerable amount of time, with only intense thinking and weapons development to spend his time on…

_Weapons_, he thought to himself in a flash of realization. Turning to one of his random flunkies, he quickly ordered them to bring the weapon he had brought along with himself to further develop after his original plan was supposed to succeed.

"But Takasugi-sama, it hasn't even been tested, and we're not certain it's been truly completed…", he trailed off as he whitened at the glare his master shot at him that promised a great deal of suffering.

"Get. It. Now."

As said terrified flunky and select comrades of his set out to fulfill their master's orders, the situation down below was not letting up in either length nor ferocity.

One of the glancing blows by a spear had sent a surprised Sokka to the floor. A quick, forceful slash of water knocked the perpetrator back as Katara bent down to help her brother up on his feet. As usual, another pirate aimed for a sneak attack with his rather lethal blade coming at a surprised Katara faster than her reflexes could strike back. Her problem was solved, however, by a large spray of blood that gushed out of the man's back and covered his corpse on the floor, revealing our silver-haired hero as their unexpected rescuer.

He gave the shocked siblings a brief nod and scurried off to cut down more enemies as their tattooed, Avatar friend flew over to their side in concern, sparing a disapproving glare mingled with disgust at the man's back. With no time for words, the teens moved to protect each other's backs as the thugs kept on coming.

Across the cavern, circumstances had pressed the Yorozuya gang together with Kagura next to Zuko. Her defiant glares, mingled with some exhaustion, didn't waver as she continued her barrage of punches and kicks.

Zuko turned in her direction and risked some words in brief periods for conversation in the brawl. "How much…longer…do you think we can…keep fighting these…assholes?"

Kagura glanced at him and responded in kind. "Long enough…to kick all of their…asses. My pappy…and Gin-chan…eat guys like this for…breakfast."

Surprised at the mention of her family, he responded in curiosity. "And who is… your father?"

She shrugged as she broke another Dai Li's nose. "I call him…baldy, but everyone else calls…him… Umibozu."

Umibozu. The most powerful mercenary in the world. Was her father.

If it wasn't for the adrenaline pumping through their bodies, both Zuko and Iroh would have frozen and dropped their jaws in shock.

Any further conversation was cut off as Sa-chan (still clad in red leather) moved over in their direction and proceeded to humiliate her enemies by stringing them up with wire into suggestive and painful positions as well as tossing sticky natto (fermented soy beans) into their faces. She also brought humiliation upon Zuko, who was embarrassed to be associated with the very annoying masochist. Not that his uncle and the Yorozuya weren't annoying, but she had a special talent of royally pissing him off.

Unfortunately, fate truly was an unfair bitch, and as he was trying to inch away from Ayame Sarutobi's vicinity, an explosion of dust and dirt from the entrance quickly caught everyone's attention.

To witness several men in familiar black clothing filing through with three men at the front, as their leader let out an invigorating battle cry. "All right, men, let's teach these bastards a…", he trailed off as they all took in the damaged battlefield and the frozen combatants taken aback by their appearance.

"Uh…are we late?", Kondo asked awkwardly.

Hijikata face-palmed. "I told you that we were lost, chief."

"We were?…Dammit, Yorozuya, you gave us crappy directions!"

"Actually, chief, Hijikata-san was the one who handed you the map. Since he's to blame for our late appearance, I suggest that he make up for his dereliction of duty by committing hara-kiri."

"Go **** a tree, Sougo."

_**Fin**_

**Finally updated. Unfortunately, I regret to inform everyone that the next update will not come for possibly even longer due to upcoming social and educational issues in my life. Also, **_**kintama**_** is slang for "golden balls" = testicles. Thank you for your support.**

**Please don't flame! I beg you!**


	12. Chapter 12

_Note: I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama. __**Please review!**_

_Sorry it took so long to update. Hope you forgive me._

Chapter Twelve: Bad Moments Could Cause Ulcers

Aang was not a happy pacifistic Air-Bending monk.

It was supposed to be so simple. They enter Ba Sing Se and warn the Earth King about the eclipse that would render Fire-Benders powerless, and proceed to triumph over the Fire Nation army with the Earth Kingdom's help and defeat the Fire Lord once and for all.

However, everything seemed to have gone to hell in a hand-basket.

Now they were fighting for their lives against trained _killers_ and alongside an odd-jobs man who was cutting them down with a real_ sword._ Having Zuko and his uncle by their side for such a brutal battle was just rubbing salt in the wound.

The…ninja "lady" was just another dose of alcohol in the figurative wound.

And the black clad soldiers…

"YAMAZAKI! WHAT THE **** DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING BRINGING THAT ****ING BADMITTON RACQUET TO A DEATH MATCH?"

"AAAHHHH! VICE-CHIEF, PLEASE! YOU NEARLY CUT OFF MY HEAD!"

Let's just say Aang was holding little to no optimism right now. Scary for an inappropriately optimistic kid like him.

Even as they kept fighting tooth and nail against the plot-conveniently numerous enemies, Aang couldn't summon any positive thoughts into his shaved and stupidly-tattooed head, coming to grips with the idea that if the battle were to end more quickly, his friends wouldn't fall and get injured. Or worse.

Especially…

He glanced over at his love-at-first-sight crush Katara throwing water around like a fearsome whip. He couldn't bear the thought of her getting hurt.

His thoughts took an abrupt turn when he recalled the teachings of the Guru, and it suddenly dawned on him that it might work to finish this pointless battle much more quickly.

But to do so…

He took one guilty look at the Water-Bender's fighting form, and he rushed into battle to find an opening to concentrate in.

_I'm sorry Katara._

_**:::Scene Break:::**_

Despite the lack of casualties so far, Takasugi found himself in a much more lightened mood. As soon as his new weapon was ready, he'd be able to set it upon the extremely vexing opposition, and hopefully kill Gintoki in the process.

If it failed, he'd just throw the damn thing down and make it explode amongst the crowd.

_Tempting as Gintoki is_, he reflected, _it would be best to kill off the Avatar first. Getting rid of the most powerful bender and sending the rest into mindless rage is probably better._

…_****. I'm out of smoke. Now I have to smuggle another damn shipment or my pipe will be empty. I might murder someone if that happens._

"Shinsuke."

The one-eyed terrorist turned to face his right-hand musician/swordsman Bansai of Kawakami, looking as aloof as usual with his shades and blade all present.

"The new weapon is in position. They're waiting for your signal."

Takasugi faced the battle once more. "Tell them to fire at will." He paused and chuckled. "It's the first time that wasn't said by Henpeita."

Bansai shrugged. "Both he and Matako are hospitalized from finally beating the crap out of each other. It's probably for the best."

The silent musician turned to the battlefield and frowned just a fraction, but just enough for Takasugi to notice.

"Something wrong?"

Bansai turned towards him, his frown more pronounced.

"Why won't you let me go down there?"

Takasugi chuckled unpleasantly.

"You're that eager to fight Gintoki, aren't you? Normally I would let you do what you wish. However…"

Takasugi's grin widened as he looked back towards the battle.

"I already promised him to someone else."

_**:::Scene Break:::**_

Back with the Yorozuya-plus-Fire-Princes team, something suddenly came to their attention.

Gintoki took some glances around. "Does anyone else notice something's off?"

Shinpachi tossed another enemy by his nose. "That we seem to get into more trouble than any other individuals we know? Including those in law enforcement?"

Kagura kicked another enemy in his…special place…making her allies grateful that she was on their side. "That we rushed in here without having a decent lunch?"

"YOU ALREADY HAD LUNCH!"

"No I didn't. I had a snack."

"TEN POUNDS OF RICE AND CURRY WITH A TANK OF WATER DOES NOT QUALIFY AS A SNACK!"

Another theory was "That I haven't been spanked properly?". No need to explain who said that.

"No, I'm talking about the fact that the hacked-up writer is running out of ideas for this story."

"Don't be ridiculous. He's on his twelfth chapter already. He's probably just on some sort of writer's block."

"Gin-san's right. I haven't had any 'action' in the entire plot."

"NO ONE WANTS TO SEE MASOCHISTIC ACTION, EVEN IN A T-RATED STORY!"

"Seriously, look at the facts. One, the amount of enemies we have in these action scenes seem to be endless. Two, most of the focus is on us. Three, none of us are performing any decent cross-dressing action so far."

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE I WANT TO BE PACCHI AGAIN?"

"Uncle, what do you think they're talking about over there?"

The exiled princes had taken a chance look to see their comrades simultaneously fighting and yelling at the top of their lungs.

Iroh batted away another enemy offhand with a burst of flame. "Knowing them, any argument like that is probably best left to their knowledge alone."

Zuko contemplated this, then shuddered. "You're probably right."

"Indeed nephew. After all, respect for one's privacy is very important, particularly if they promised some delicious ice cream in exchange for more customers and biscuits."

"Uncle…do you really believe that they're going to remember that promise after this?"

"It doesn't hurt to be optimistic."

"Actually, it does. That's how our ship got roasted after the men got drunk two years ago."

Before Iroh could offer any counter-argument, a sudden pressure in the air made itself known, and an imposing energy seemed to rise from the ground like a great being returning into the world.

No, kids, it wasn't Elvis; he really is dead and he's staying that way.

Instead, it was Aang in his Avatar State, rising up from the ground as though in a mystical state of levitation that brought awe from the nearby enemies and Shinsengumi, and complaints from Gintoki's group since the wind was blowing up dirt into their eyes. His solemn, glowing eyes and tattoos (which actually looked impressive unlike before) turned to face the army of destructive Earth traitors to show them just who was the boss…

Before a great streak of powerful lightning landed directly onto his back, causing him to let loose a great gasp of pain, and make a slow smoking descent to the ground below. As Katara immediately left her position to use her water to cushion the boy's fall, she, and the rest of the groups, gazed at the direction of the lightning's path.

They looked upon a metal monstrosity that seem to be a cannon of sorts with all sorts of complicated gears attached to it, whirling around in a chaotic manner due to the levers being pushed by a few rogues, the contraption still crackling with the aftermath of the attack. Then the attention turned to Takasugi's position, with his grin back in full force and looking more demented than ever.

"Good test run. Now we just have to see if it will work a second time around."

The pause was quickly over and everyone got into new positions. The Shinsengumi fell into formation to keep any more of the outlaws from grouping together and Hijikata leading a few of his men forward towards the lightning cannon to prevent the terrorists from firing another shot.

Okita was following behind with his sword pointed at Hijikata's back. That wasn't a surprise.

Katara and Sokka quickly moved to Aang's side with Katara holding his injured form and putting up a ferocious Water-Bending defense, and Sokka using his boomerang to hit the enemies where Katara missed. Toph opted to go out with full-blown rage and started throwing veritable rocky cannonballs and fissures towards their soon-to-be-ass-kicked foes.

The Yorozuya was basically following the Shinsengumi's lead except without Okita at their backs and looking more like an oncoming dog-pile than a special police group.

Elsewhere, in a long-forgotten part of the cave, Azula was clutching her right arm and her ribs while seething, watching as Gintoki's mortal enemy (Takasugi, not diabetes) had taken her chance right out from under her nose. Just for that, she would send a lightning bolt through his empty eye socket.

She would've tried if her more sensible 'best friends' knocked her out for two very, very important reasons. The first was that it would've drawn possibly lethal attention to themselves and the fact that Azula's mental and physical states were not in ideal condition for Lightning-Bending. Most importantly, it would have robbed them of their ideal views of their prospective eye-candies.

Ty Lee and Mai looked blushingly at Shinpachi and Zuko respectively. _Worth it._

_**:::Scene Break:::**_

Iroh was undoubtedly one of the most powerful Fire-Benders in the world alongside the members of his family, but he had to admit that he had never fallen into a situation like this, even when he had been entrapped by ambushes back in his service in the army. They were now fighting along one of his mortal enemies, fighting to save the nation he tried to conquer, and to save the Avatar. He would have denounced this situation and declared that it couldn't get any more confusing, but he knew better than to tempt fate like that.

He gazed up at the most menacing machine and thought through their options. They couldn't risk making it explode with their Fire-Bending and any projectiles they had were useless.

On the other hand…

He gestured to Zuko and both of them made their way close to Gin's spot. After a few placed whispers in his ear, he grinned goofily and performed one of his many talents. Yelling loudly.

"Oi, Kagura! You're up to play catapult!"

Said girl turned in confusion, which was replaced with indignation when the three most skilled combatants made their way towards her with their arms held rigid. She only just managed to hop up when they used their combined arm strength to launch her at the offending cannon with her head first due to miscalculation and indignation. She then got up next to the toppled weapon and started throwing family-unfriendly words about like a storm.

Shinpachi would have spoken up for her, but then he remembered his own catapult experience and closed his mouth.

As their brief victory managed to set in, they set their sights on the chaos below. As they looked upon the wasted crystals and earth, the numerous bloodstains and burn marks, with the concussed enemies lying around and the occasional corpse, and the all of the broken metal and wood thrown around, they came to a rather grim conclusion.

This was going to be a real bitch to clean up.

Mentally, all of them voted Sa-chan for the duty since they weren't feeling too active and her antics had worn their nerves annoyingly and her natto had made a large contribution to the mess below.

Even with all of these troubles, they felt remarkably well-off and with a touch of optimism.

"Well, at least it can't get any worse."

And the spell was broken. As one mind, they all turned death-inducing looks to the guilty masochistic ninja.

Zuko opened his mouth and spoke quite despondently. "Why…the hell…did…you…say…that…?'

It was a well-known law amongst the more knowledgeable and fiction-addicted population that speaking such a fate-tempting sentence was due to make their lives ten times more miserable than they usually were, and often ended with a super-powered foe making his/her ominous entrance within minutes of the forbidden words being spoken.

This just went to show that such an effect was never ignored.

A boulder was suddenly dislodged from the upper part of the ceiling and falling down onto an unfortunate mercenary. After the dust settled, a new figure landed dramatically onto the bloodstained ground, and slowly stood up like a villain in one of those best-selling science-fiction movies.

When the figure became visible, he was very recognizable due to his closed eyes, permanent smile, braided red hair, durable umbrella, and the aura of bloodlust that followed his movements.

Kagura gasped. "Big brother…"

Iroh and Zuko quickly tensed along with Shinpachi. They weren't exactly certain about Kagura and her own family intricacies, but it was blatantly obvious that her brother was also a Yato, was not an ally, and was managing to feel more menacing than either Azula or Ozai. That was no mean feat.

The recently-ignored Takasugi snorted. "You're late. Did you time that exactly for dramatic effect?"

Kamui shifted his smiling countenance to his compatriot-in-chaos' direction. "For once, no. I just waited until I could sense a presence underneath my position so the rubble I caused would leave a nice red carpet for my arrival."

Lord of One-Eyed Terrorism snorted once more. "Figures. Oh, and your desired prey is standing right over there."

Kamui shifted his attention again over to Gintoki's defiant eyes. "Much obliged. It's always a pleasure to finally pounce on one's prey. Hopefully this little scuffle will prove to be more entertaining than the last."

The silver samurai gripped his blade tightly and stood in a ready stance. "And it'll end with you missing an eye just like that old fossil Housen."

His bloodthirsty opponent widened his unpleasant smile and opened his shining-mad eyes. "Oh, don't worry. I'll do my utmost best to make this bout far more interesting and colorful."

A few moments of silence passed, and then the two warriors leaped at each other like two wild felines defending territory.

As blade met umbrella, a nearby scarred prince was suddenly struck by a random, yet disturbingly sensible thought.

Zuko's thoughts went as follows. _Insane and more talented sibling…left on a journey for self-discovery…has an eccentric father-figure mentor…ill-tempered and always caught up in crazy schemes…absent mother…_

Things then came to a horrid conclusion for the ex-prince as Kamui's sliced hand delivered a bleeding bruise to Gintoki's cheek.

_Oh Agni,_ Zuko thought. _Aside from having a father who actually loves her…_

_Kagura's like me!_

…_****._

_**Fin**_

**Sorry for the long wait. In case anyone forgot, natto = fermented soy beans. Also, I'm not trying to bash Aang again, it's just that honoring the sky-bison or not, those tattoos the monks put on themselves look completely ridiculous in my opinion, unless one goes into the Avatar State with them. Also, the barb at his crush on Katara is based on the fact that she's probably the first attractive female peer he's ever seen, and because I'm really not a fan of love-at-first-sight crap. Also, I've noticed that I seem to be making the Yorozuya plus Iroh and Zuko into Boring Invincible Heroes. If you think I'm going down this path, please send your opinions. Thank you very much!**

**Please don't flame! I beg you!**


	13. Chapter 13

_Note: I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama. __**Please Review!**_

_Again, I'm __really__ sorry for the delay. Also, I'm using a new Microsoft so this may look ****ed up._

Chapter Thirteen: End to a Battle; Next Up, Sugar Retreat!

Takasugi Shinsuke did not lose his temper. He would often get irritated or impatient, but he would never debase himself by doing something immature like throwing a fit.

However, this didn't change the fact that at this moment, inside his twisted mind, he was feeling the odd sensation of being _absolutely livid_.

His forces were being brutalized, his weapon had been tossed aside with ease, and to top it all off, Kamui couldn't just off Gintoki from the start!

"Shinsuke"

He turned to look at his music-addicted second-in-command.

_Well, this could be difficult_. Bansai's face didn't change much at all, but since he was an invaluable member of the Kiheitai, Takasugi took great pains to train himself to spot the smallest facial twitches so he could actually find some emotion in the man-slayer's stone-carved face.

_Hmmm…it's not his Otsuu-chan's-concert-got-cancelled face, not severe enough to be his someone-broke-my-shamisen face, and definitely not his I-killed-somebody-we-need-to-clean-it-up face. Better just stop stalling and get to the point._

"Is something the matter? Or are you still sore about not getting a chance to remove Gintoki's limbs?"

The musical swordsman's frown increased by a millimeter.

"We don't have a lot left to work with."

Takasugi made a face that suggested he had just swallowed something that he thought was chocolate but wasn't chocolate at all.

It had happened to him before. He didn't like to talk about it.

"Also, the Dai Li under the Princess's control have already compromised the Outer and Inner Walls."

The terrorist simply shrugged at his right-hand-man. "I am fully aware of that. And I'm not stupid to think that we stand a chance of winning without losing many more of the grunts. Tell the surviving troops to…make a strategic withdrawal…when it is most convenient."

"And Kamui?"

"Leave that to me."

Bansai nodded once and silently moved towards the rest of the troops to make them fall back to recover what very little pride they had left from having their asses handed to them by a bunch of adolescents. They would probably need therapy for this, though Takasugi wouldn't give a damn and let them stew on it for a while.

The one-eyed man smirked and continued watching Gintoki and Kamui's blood-match, pondering over what exactly would happen when the Fire Nation claimed the rest of Ba Sing Se in another few hours. Probably another repeat of Kansei…

His grip tightened, nearly snapping his pipe in two. _Both_ _Earth and Fire working together to satiate their greed, and making an example of us by removing Sensei's head as a warning call._

_I hope they burn each other to ash._

He slowly made his way closer to the battlefield to properly recall Kamui for a strategic retreat.

_**::: Meanwhile, Thousands of Miles Away:::**_

Gintoki was finding this to be a rather unpleasant twist from the relative amusement he held earlier since he couldn't find any time to make some amusing quips. Kagura's basket-case brother was a formidable opponent…

And his comrades were of no use. What. So. Ever.

"I bet that it'll be over in less than ten minutes."

"Kagura-chan, you're being cruel to Gin-san. It'll definitely be eight minutes, tops."

"That sugar-skull isn't crazy enough to let it go on for that long. I say five minutes."

"Now Zuko, Miss Kagura has a good point. They're both rather equal so it should last for a while."

"You're all wrong. Gin-san will end this in a minute because that's his way of doing it; hard, and with everlasting, sexy pain."

"…Uncle…"

"No matter what you may be feeling now Zuko, it's still very wrong to spit fire at a young lady, no matter how…odd…she may be. Oh, and please pass the popcorn."

The remainder of Glucose-Fire Squad were sitting down and viewing the match as though it was another faked wrestling match. Without fake fights or filled with steroid-pumped half-naked men. And they were occupying themselves with buttered popcorn that had appeared out of nowhere.

It was probably best not to inquire about its origins.

It was a rather trying thing for him in this battle right now. Housen had been older, bigger, and thus much easier to hit. But Kamui was half of Housen's bulk and lighter on his feet, as well as rather distracting because of how happy he was being involved with a fight to the death. It was like comparing a bull-buffalo to a wolverine-badger. The less-hairy one was smaller and easier to look at, but so much more irritating. Like trips to the doctor who kept lecturing him about being on the brink of diabetes.

Oh great. Now he was hungry. Maybe afterwards he could get a nice parfait, or cookie batter, or maybe some of the delicious red twisted candies he lifted from the old hag's cupboard. But then again, he had recently gone broke (again) because of his stupid generosity and Kagura's appetite. And it had nothing to do with what he spent at the casino and the dumplings. He was totally not lying about that.

_Maybe I can convince Shinpachi's demon sister to sell some of her old antique crap. It's not like she uses it. Or actually polishes it._

As he fended off an undoubtedly crushing kick, his hearing could still pick up the argument coming from the sidelines. Finally, he decided he was pissed off enough to toss the crazy one of Umibozu's children and let his opinions run free. This was not a new concept to him.

"ARE YOU QUITE DONE PLACING BETS ON MY CHANCES FOR SURVIVAL YET?"

His rag-tag comrades looked up at him, completely unaffected by his outburst. Except for Sa-chan, who blushed at how forceful he sounded.

"Gin-chan, we're not betting on your time of death. We're just betting on how long it's gonna take you to clean up already."

"She's right. After all, you still have to bring us more customers in exchange for bringing us on this damn-fool adventure."

"OH SHUT UP AND LET ME CONCENTRATE!"

He turned to see that Kamui had made his way closer during his brief shouting match with his usual smile that just didn't belong on a battlefield. He readied his sword again to fend off another physical attack from the very dangerous Yato…

When he stepped out of the way as a sharp katana flew through the air and embedded itself into the ground, making everyone in the vicinity pause and Kamui to frown just a fraction. They all turned to look up at the looming figure of Takasugi, who was wearing both a bored and disappointed look on his face.

Kamui looked up at him with the same smile plastered on his face, but it gave off the air of one who would skin you alive if you didn't give them a good reason not to. "Is there any particular reason why you're interrupting my fun, Takasugi-san?"

Takasugi smoked on his pipe looking completely unaffected by the red-headed Yato's menace.

"Trust me, I want to see you cause a ton of carnage just like you, but the Fire Nation army has breached the Walls and I find it best for us to make ourselves scarce."

Everyone's breathing hitched at the news except for the red-haired killer, whose grin widened a fraction, which wasn't a sign of agreement but an indicator, that he wasn't amused by what you were saying.

"What's your point? I hardly care for what happens to the rest of the insects in this city."

"Me neither, but it is in both of our interests to retreat since I'm not fond of prisons…"

He inhaled and exhaled the smoke from his pipe and smirked.

"…and you probably won't take well to your fun being interrupted. After all, it would be vastly irritating for you to have these insects budging in and ruining what excitement you want to get out of this entertaining match."

Kamui's face froze. Two of his most valued instincts were currently conflicting with each other. On one hand, it was unheard of for him to abandon a perfectly bloody death match with a worthy opponent like the Shiroyasha. On the other hand, he hated it when others budged in on his fun, ruining the whole purpose of the fight. So the answer was…

"Throw in another batch of enemy soldiers for me to slaughter and I'll do it."

Takasugi snorted and gestured for the rogue Yato to follow him. He leapt up the side of the rocks to his side.

And then a boulder was thrown near his head.

"NII-CHAAAAN! GET BACK HERE SO I CAN KICK YOUR ASS!"

He simply smiled at the tone of his estranged sister and kept on moving forward. Before they made their run through an escape tunnel, Takasugi turned his head and gave his former Joui comrade a look that gave an unmistakable message.

_Next time you will end up dead._

As they watched their adversaries retreat and strut their way out of the cavern, the news Takasugi had relayed finally caught up with their brains and spurred their thoughts to come out of their mouth.

"Well this ****ing sucks. Say, maybe I should lead the way out. 'Cause, you know, I have such a good sense of direction."

"DON'T LIE! YOU JUST WANT TO BE THE FIRST TO ESCAPE THE CRAP WE'VE PULLED OURSELVES INTO!"

"That's such a harsh way of putting it, Shinpachi. True, but harsh."

"Is it a good or bad thing that I've become so quickly used to this?"

"Don't sweat it Lava-Pants. That means you're sane!"

Zuko was not reassured by Kagura's 'friendly advice'.

So he simply turned towards the silver-haired swordsman to join Shinpachi in the role of the straight-man.

"SHOULDN"T WE BE WARNING EVERYBODY ABOUT THIS BEFORE THE ARMY REACHES US?"

Gintoki winced. "Well, I am kinda sore from all that exertion, so…"

The glares sent by Shinpachi and Zuko promptly silenced him.

"Alright, alright! We'll get the news out to everyone we can. Let's get back home and pack all of the sugar and then we can…"

Sa-chan swooned at his commanding tone.

"What about the Jasmine Dragon?"

They all collectively turned to Iroh with identical looks questioning his sanity. Iroh got the message and sighed at the thought of leaving his precious tea shop behind. Zuko felt some regret about it as well, but he preferred to keep his mouth shut.

Then suddenly a rather disconcerting thought struck him like lightning (pun intended).

"Where did Azula go?"

All of their heads turned to see the cavern devoid of the Teenage Creepy Fire Females. Azula had woken up and decided to make a withdrawal *cough*retreat*cough* and decided on the spot to summon one of her loyal Dai Li agents to take them towards their Fire allies. This was enforced by the motivation she presented by threatening to melt his manhood if he should fail. Needless to say, he took them out of there with great efficiency. Mai and Ty Lee had gone reluctantly, with their hormones conflicting with common sense.

Despite losing valuable prisoners, they couldn't help but feel relieved since they had heard a lot about her exploits from Zuko and Iroh. Kagura didn't feel relief since she felt, from what she had heard, that bitch needed to be forcefully knocked down a few dozen pegs.

Azula's older and non-sociopathic brother privately felt that in a match between the two, the gluttonous Yato girl would probably come out on top. However, she didn't need her ego inflated any more than it already was.

"Yorozuya! Get your ass down here already!"

They turned to see the chief of the Shinsengumi shouting at them, which he had been doing for the past thirty seconds. They hadn't heard him through a combination of their attention being elsewhere and willful ignorance to not hear the gorilla trying to rebuke them.

Using a death march-like walk to piss Kondo off even more, they slowly made their way towards his position. Walking up to him, Gintoki just stared. "Can we help you, tax-thieves? Preferably by getting rid of a certain sadist?" Kagura suggested.

"Now china-girl, I know you still want to seek death, but like I said before, I'm only going to help you if you want to commit _seppuku_. If that's what you want, I'll be delighted. By the way, you have some blood on your pants. Is it that time of the month already?"

"Quit hitting on me you pervert!"

"Anyway," Kondo said as they blocked out the nearby argument, "We need your help moving some of the wounded. With this and a date with Otae-san, I figure this would even us out."

"Yeah, about that…"

"YOU MEAN THAT PART OF THE DEAL WAS A LIE, YOU BASTARD?"

"Are you really surprised?"

He was caught off-guard by the question, and then realized that he probably should have expected that from the odd-jobs samurai who irritated them on occasion. He quickly switched his mind around to think of a task he could give them that would be difficult, and he finally struck gold.

"Okay. Then you can help the Avatar and his fellow children over there. I think they don't know how lightning really works. Or why it shouldn't touch their skin at all."

With a collective groan, the rag-tag group accepted the charge and slowly made their way to the position of the Gaang. Gintoki was suddenly struck with inspiration, and turned towards Shinpachi, Kagura, and Sarutobi.

"How 'bout while we do this, the rest of you lot get going and warn everybody about the s***storm that's coming our way. Leave no stone or shack unturned."

A relieved Shinpachi and disappointed Kagura made their way outside to tell everyone they knew and everyone else as well. Sarutobi Ayame simply pouted at Gintoki before she left.

"Does that include Zenzo as well?"

Gin rolled his eyes. "Yes, you have to warn him too."

She frowned a little bit, but then nodded and vanished like the ninja she was. They remaining three sighed with relief and continued their way towards Zuko's former enemies.

Katara, understandably, was pretty pissed.

"What do you want? Coming to take Aang away while he's vulnerable and near death?"

Zuko sighed. "No, we're just trying to help you out with that wound on his back."

"Zuko is right, Miss Katara. We are only offering our services to aid you in your healing."

"Yeah, right. Sorry if I don't believe a spoiled prince, but we've got everything under control right now."

Sokka slowly nodded while Toph just wore an exasperated look on her face.

Gin nodded in agreement. "Sure. We'll let you try to heal a wound you know nothing about while Fire Benders who are familiar with lightning and its effects stand by and watch you take on a problem blindly."

Katara paused, scowled, and with some subtle prodding from Toph and her brother, placed Aang down where they could both work on him. Zuko and Iroh felt relief and got down on their knees to provide insight and help the process along.

Gin paused.

"You wouldn't happen to have any snacks on you? I mean that hypothetically."

_**Fin**_

**Sorry again for the really long wait. I'd like to clarify a few things right now. First, the Suzuran Arc with Sadasada and Oboro won't take place until after the war when Zuko isn't in Ba Sing Se. Also, the Shogun position in the Avatar-verse was formerly the head of the Earth Kingdom military, but in the past century has been delegated to a political standing under the Tendo Sect's control and the King's as well. The Tendo Sect will still exist through the clan members of the deceased so that it will still exist by the Suzuran Arc. Also, Shouyo's speech about protecting will be shifted to a lecture he had given the orphans before the day of his death. Clarification: the Kansei Purge will become a team-up with Sadasada's corrupt team of Earth Kingdom officials and the Fire Nation army back during the time of Shouyo's death. Just thought you should know.**

**Read and review! And don't flame!**


	14. Chapter 14

_Note: I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama._

_**Please Review!**_

Chapter Fourteen: Parting is Such a Pain in the Ass

The unanimously voted savior of the world woke up for the first time since the cave with a headache, a fuzzy feeling on his tattooed head, and a bad itch on his back.

He also felt remarkably tired like he'd slept for too long.

"So th' little bald flyin' monkey's awake, huh? Well, no so bald now, anyways."

He swerved his head around to find the owner of the voice which ended with hurting eyes adjusting to the light and an even bigger ache in his back.

"That ain't a good idea, y'know? Moving so much after a lightnin' bolt t' the back."

His eyesight adjusted enough for him to look at the speaker.

He blushed and wondered why he was meeting so many weird-looking people lately.

This person in question was a blonde-haired woman with her hair pulled up into a knot held by two oddly-shaped knives and a smoking pipe in her right hand. She also had a vertical scar and a horizontal scar on the left side of her face.

Her outfit also showed off her smooth strong thighs. Cue blushing.

"Ummm…" Aang stated as he tried to fight down his blushing, "who are you?"

The woman's lips twitched in a brief show of amusement. "Th' name's Tsukuyo, kid."

Aang nodded in comprehension to the one fact he could understand right now. Before he could inquire further, Tsukuyo beat him to the punch.

"Ya got shot by lightnin' and have been snoozing fer over a week," she stated quite bluntly. "Fortunately ye finally grew some decent hair on tha' tattooed skull o' yours."

He realized this and touched his head with fascinated horror.

"Gintoki asked me t' make sure ye got some safe restin' and so ya don't break again."

He briefly flashed through his recently addled memory for some connection to what she had just said.

"Gin who?" he mumbled. Then it finally hit him. "Oh, you mean that guy with the really fluffy silver hair!"

…_Did she just frown?_

If she had frowned, she gave no indication of it when she spoke up once more.

"His hair's wavy, kid. Not fluffy like yer flyin' carpet."

"Appa's not a carpet! He's one of my best friends and…"

"Yer not familiar with sarcasm, are ya?"

Her interruption took him aback for a few scant seconds; his thoughts of Appa gave way to the rest of his friends.

"What about my friends? What about Katara, Sokka, Toph…"

"And not familiar with the 'Silence is Golden' rule either."

Aang simply glared at her, though it ended up looking more like a narrow-eyed pout.

Tsukuyo simply rolled her eyes and took another smoke from her pipe.

"Quit yer bitchin', kiddo. Look," she said, making a gesture to her right while Aang did his best to put on a disapproving frown at her language, "your li'l groupies are at the tents with th' blue paint jobs talking with the adults and some other guys. One o' the old guys looks like tha scruffy boy ye brought along.

Aang mused at the description and then had his epiphany. "Sokka! And the old guy…must be his dad! I gotta go see how everyone's…"

Two well-placed knives landed in front of his toes, cutting off his exit and his remaining speech. He turned nervously towards the intimidating woman who threw them.

"Sorry 'bout that," Tsukuyo said without a hint of regret in her bored tone, "but Gin's request comes first. Which says tha' I have ta stay here and make sure yer gettin' plenty o' rest ta help with th' bullseye on yer back."

Though her expression didn't change much, an unsettling glint lit up in her eyes.

"So make sure ya stay there and rest, otherwise…"

She began twirling one of her knives around with her left hand.

"…ye might hurt yerself again."

There was no question as to what he'd hurt himself on this time around.

Looking at Tsukuyo's indifferent face and waking up to a very confusing day, Aang simply whimpered and hoped that Katara would be done talking soon and give some reassurance with her comforting presence.

_**:::Meanwhile, in the Tent of Important Things:::**_

Katara's "comforting presence" was currently six feet under while the present situation continued to grate on her nerves.

"No! There's no way in hell we're taking his royal pompousness with us anywhere, and certainly not in the Fire Nation!"

Hakoda simply sighed alongside Iroh while his dear daughter made her vehement protest for the fifth time since they came to the idea that a guide to help survive in the Fire Nation might be a good idea. The lucky one chosen for this task was none other than Zuko himself to guide them calmly (not) through an area very unfamiliar to them. The lucky teen in question was leaning against the edge of the tent with Gintoki, both of them adorned with a look of utter boredom.

Shinpachi and Kagura didn't say anything because Shinpachi was busy running around trying to prevent Kagura from wolfing down the Water Tribe's supply of meat.

Katara turned to glare at the offensive ex-prince. "I suppose this is all happy-do-day for you now, isn't it, to be close to the same people you've been hunting all over the world?"

Gintoki rolled his eyes. "Chasing a giant-ass flying bison from south to north doesn't really qualify…"

"I wasn't talking to you."

He mumbled under his breath but then decided that arguing with her this early without digesting any strawberry milk was just too much effort.

Katara turned back to poor Zuko and asked again with her usual vigor. "So, are you happy, _your Highness?_"

Zuko simply stared back with a completely serious face and said, "Ecstatic."

Katara's frown increased a little bit more, unaware that both her father's and Iroh's lips had just twitched.

She once again turned towards the two older men as they made another attempt to make her see reason. During this time Zuko, who was very bored thanks to the lack of activity and listening to old men talk for an extended amount of time, decided to open a conversation with the silver-haired man next to him. It wasn't the most rational decision, but the best one compared to trying to earn daddy's love when he disfigured your face and sent you on a mission that was very obviously meant to be a wild goose chase.

…Yeah.

"Do you feel like there's something extremely odd about our situation right now?"

Gintoki turned and gave the prince a look that said 'thank you Captain Obvious', but decided to answer his question anyway for lack of anything better to do.

"Well, yeah, I mean we've just hightailed ourselves out of Ba Sing Se…"

"No, I'm talking about something else."

The Yorozuya boss raised an inquiring and lazy eyebrow.

"I mean, we've known you for only like a month or so…"

Zuko then frowned in confusion.

"…but it feels like it's been lasting for over two years. Does that make any sense to you?"

He was then naturally very suspicious when Gin turned his head and started whistling innocently.

"Why can't we take Iroh with us instead?"

The two bored men turned their heads back to the conversation at Katara's sudden statement.

Iroh gave a reassuring smile. "I'm needed elsewhere, Miss Katara. I have some connections that would be very helpful in ending this war…"

He paused to take a sip of his newly summoned tea, and for dramatic effect.

"…and besides, Zuko is a very capable young man, and has a better grip on his emotions than many give him credit for."

Zuko flushed with pride while Gin made gagging motions at the sappiness of it all.

"Besides, surely you won't rudely dismiss the advice of an experienced, kindly old man like me?"

Katara stood uncomfortably, looking at him for a full ten seconds before finally acknowledging defeat with a nod of her head.

For an old man, Iroh was surprising skilled at utilizing the feared Puppy-Dog-Eyes attack.

Hakoda then intervened with some 'old man wisdom' of his own. "Why don't you go gather Toph, Sokka, and Aang so that we can talk a little bit more about what we're going to do next, okay Katara?"

Still feeling defeated and somewhat uncomfortable looking at her father, whom she had lost her temper with in the past week over abandonment issues, she nodded once more and made her way through the tent opening, throwing Gin and Zuko a 'still-pissed-at-you' glare.

The back of the tent was ripped shortly after by Kagura and Toph, who were both wearing ****-eating grins with some tell-tale meat stains on the corners of their mouths. Obviously, and unsurprisingly, they had hit it off very well once they had gotten to know each other. Shinpachi followed up behind them looking as though he had just barely survived a stampede of komodo-rhinos. Actually, it was a fair comparison to trying to control the two forces of nature that were wearing smug looks on their faces.

Hakoda and Iroh simply face-palmed and shrugged, having gotten used to their combined antics over the past week.

Looking at each other once more, they began talking more about what they ought to do and how it should be coordinated.

Zuko simply stood near the exit fidgeting, waiting to leave the tent to finally do something besides being a witness to the talk of fellow strategists while Gin looked like he was about to fall asleep right then and there.

When they finally wrapped up their conversation, Zuko sighed in relief and turned to leave the tent for something more active.

Sadly, Zuko didn't remember that Lady Luck constantly forgot about him and ended up walking over him instead of lending a hand.

"Zuko, come here for a minute. Chief Hakoda wants to speak with you for a little bit."

He resisted the urge to curse and set the tent on fire and turned towards his uncle as though a death sentence had just coiled around his neck.

Hakoda took a few steps forward and folded his arms in a serious manner. It was countered by the slight smirk on his face that put our lovable hothead on his guard.

"So tell me, Prince Zuko, why don't you explain yourself about your little mischief in chasing my children around the world…"

He leaned in, obviously happy about embarrassing said prince.

"…and also the small fact about tying my daughter to a tree and my son fighting you off in a dress."

Zuko cringed and tried to find allies in the other two adults in the room.

Uncle Iroh simply shrugged his shoulders in a way that said 'there's nothing I can do'.

He then foolishly tried to find support with Gintoki only to find that he had, once again, turned his head and was whistling innocently.

Resigned to his fate, and planning to pay back those two deserters, he turned back to Hakoda. He then felt uncomfortably aware of the other people in the tent.

"Can we talk about this somewhere else? Somewhere more private?"

The Water Tribe chief opened his mouth to reply, but Toph burst out with her own view of the situation.

"Are you kidding? No way in hell I'm going to bail out on listening to something this juicy! Come on, spill!"

Kagura jumped in, clearly agreeing with that statement. "Don't worry, Lava-Pants, we won't tease you too much about it."

Zuko really doubted this from the grins on their faces, but decided against waging a futile battle to have this be a private conversation. However, he did promise, in his mind, that he'd find a way to get payback later.

…_Uncle, stop grinning._

_**:::Later On:::**_

Zuko walked out of the tent looking mortified while everyone else followed behind him either grinning (Toph and Kagura) or fighting back grins (Gintoki, Iroh and Hakoda).

They ended up making their way to an open space in the camp where everyone seemed to be gathering to converse with each other and to do so with a breath of fresh air.

Bato looked to Hakoda, his gaze questioning what happened in the tent; but Hakoda simply gave a grin and a wave, to indicate his amusement and that nothing bad had happened.

When they made their way to the open space, however, they did so with some trepidation.

This had to do partly with the very tense postures of the other tribe warriors and the look of impatience on Sokka's face.

It mostly had to do, however, with Katara's expression that somehow combined motherly and anger while caring for Aang, as well as the Air-bender's frightened expression. That was probably connected to the very amused glint in Tsukuyo's eyes as she stood at the entrance of the healing tent.

Oh dear.

Hakoda cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Alright, everybody, we've got a game plan going now, so I need every single one of you to listen closely and follow the directions I'm about to give out. No objections, understand?"

Katara grumbled a little bit while Aang shakily nodded his head along with Sokka and Toph. Zuko straightened up in attention while Gintoki made a lazy wave motion with his hand.

"Good. Now, the rest of us are going to be moving out soon enough to prepare sufficiently enough for the invasion, from which we'll coordinate with Sokka on when and how exactly we'll approach the situation."

He gestured to Iroh. "General Iroh will be departing on his own to make his own connections to make a positive pull on the war effort."

Iroh nodded in acknowledgement.

"In the meantime," he said motioning over to the under-aged gallery, "Sokka, Katara, Toph, Aang, _and_ Zuko will be making their own way around the Fire Nation to make their own plans as well as keeping any Avatar activity under wraps. If anybody has a problem with the plan I have set forward, speak up now."

Some of the warriors shifted uneasily but didn't raise any objections.

Noticing the still-tired expression on the Gaang's faces, as well as the barely restrained yawn coming from Zuko, and the fact that both Iroh and Gintoki were snoozing standing up, led to his decision that their plan would be in full effect tomorrow after a good sleep. They quickly separated into their respective tents with the Gaang in one and the Yorozuya plus princes in the other.

As the night progressed, Zuko firmly and rightly decided that Kagura was hogging most of the blankets leaving him one blanket that could barely cover a tent-year-old. Tomorrow could not come sooner.

_**:::Tomorrow:::**_

As some of our weary heroes prepared themselves for their journey, despite the snoring they suffered through the night (Sokka and Kagura), they couldn't help but feel some great anxiety over the next step they'd be making in their journey.

The Gaang was over by Hakoda, making their own small-talk and well-wishes to each other. Iroh and Zuko simply stood in front of each other, neither really summoning the proper words for this situation. After a few tense seconds Zuko simply muttered "screw it" and gave his uncle an honest hug.

"Stay safe."

"Same to you."

After their heartfelt moment passed, Zuko turned to Gintoki's impassive face, neither of them bothering to convey any spoken farewells. They simply reached out and grabbed the other's forearm as a more adult way of shaking hands/arms.

It totally wasn't gay. At all.

Zuko awkwardly made his way toward Team Avatar and with more awkwardness, made his seat on the flying (carpet) bison Appa, and with a parting wave to the two men on the ground, left on his new journey of attempting to overthrow a heartless conqueror via a 12-year-old child.

Gintoki stood some ways from Iroh scratching at the back of his neck when Shinpachi and Kagura walked up behind him.

"Gin-san/Gin-chan, when do you think we'll see him again?" they asked in unison.

He turned to his dubiously-sane charges and gave a brief snort. "The way this story's going, we'll probably either see him in two months or a year depending on how much time the author spends inhaling Hersey's and Coke; either way, I'm not going to hold my breath."

He gave a long sigh. "At least we have a break from…"

"Giiiiiiiiiin-saaaaaaaaaaaaan…"

They all froze and turned to see a familiar lavender-haired figure standing at the edge of the camp.

"Oh, it took me so long to finally find you again. It's so naughty of me; I need some _punishment_…"

Gintoki then lost control and furiously flipped the bird towards the sky.

"**** YOU, **TR**; **** YOU TO HELL!"

_**Fin**_

**Once again, there's no bashing Aang or Katara here. Aang was nearly killed, their place in Ba Sing Se and their plans with the generals were both shot to hell, and they've been saved by the guy who's chased them from the South to the North; of course Katara's pissed. And you would be whimpering too if Tsukuyo was threatening you. This will be her only appearance, so don't kill me for that. Also, this story is probably not even going to hit the 20-chapter mark so if you were hoping it would last at least 20 chapters, I'm sorry for the disappointment.**

**Keep reading and reviewing! No flaming!**


	15. Chapter 15

_Note: I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama. Sorry about yet another delay._

_**Please Review!**_

Chapter Fifteen: Sneezing is not a Sign that You're being Complimented

Zuko knew, in hindsight, that he had been rather difficult to get along with after his banishment and that Uncle Iroh had to have been very patient and understanding to support him even at his most unreasonable, and he respected and loved his tea-obsessed uncle for that.

However, at this moment, he briefly wondered whether or not Uncle had ever seriously considered tying up and gagging him just to put an end to his stupidity.

"Okay then," he said slowly with a menacing undertone as he sternly glared at the sheepish Avatar and friends, "would anyone mind explaining exactly what the hell you were thinking?"

Katara just gave him one of her mean looks and replied vehemently "We were doing our best to help others out instead of just lazing around a map to pick our next hideaway. In comparison, we've been doing a whole lot more than you have!"

Aang (unsurprisingly) spoke up in Katara's defense. "She's right. I mean, we've been doing some good things around here and there's not much else to do when we're on the run."

Sokka and Toph just shrugged their shoulders in agreement and indifference respectively.

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm not saying your hearts aren't in the right places, but we've nearly exposed ourselves by not only walking around in broad daylight in a school uniform," nodding his head to Aang, "but also impersonating a village's patron spirit." He finished off, nodding his head towards Katara's defiant face.

"Now I'm not sure if you remember this but we're kind of _on the run_. That requires subtlety. We've been failing to utilize that recently."

Feeling slightly ashamed at the ex-Prince's somewhat paternal scolding, and still standing indignantly, they made their own counter-arguments known.

"Well, what can you expect, Prince Ponytail?" Sokka said with a huff. "This is very important, I know, but we'll all go crazy from boredom if we don't do something other than sneak around!"

"Same goes for me, Sparky!" Toph exclaimed standing erect and proud.

Frowning momentarily at their abruptness, he decided to just give in and let them off with a warning this time instead of tearing into them like a drill sergeant. "Fine, I'll let it go for now. But we can't afford more excursions like this, so we better get moving soon."

Aang smiled brightly at Zuko's change of heart and shifted eagerly. "That's great! Just let me pick up some more of that smoked candy they're selling down at the village…"

"Not a chance in hell." Zuko cut in very firmly. "We're on a schedule, and the world doesn't need another air-headed sugar addict in existence."

_**:::Meanwhile:::**_

"AH-CHOOOO!"

"Gin-san, are you alright? You're not becoming sick are you?"

"It would be just like Gin-chan to catch a cold in the middle of summer."

Sending his young charge an annoyed look, Gintoki massaged his aching nose and glanced around the farm they were working at for a job. Not just to dig a few holes, oh no; that would be too simple. They also had to clean up. Which included the ostrich-horses and the copious amount of **** they had left on the property. Judging from the stains on their work clothes and their scrunched noses, Kagura and Shinpachi weren't too pleased working outside Ba Sing Se either.

Depressingly enough, this wasn't the dirtiest or most undignified thing they'd done as an odd-jobs crew.

Glancing around once more, Gin simply muttered "I don't know why, but I'm feeling a sudden desire to push a certain scarred Prince into this pile of poo in front of me."

Shinpachi and Kagura simply shrugged at this statement and returned to their own duties. Bad pun totally intended.

_**:::Time-Skip:::**_

Lying down on the makeshift couch in an abandoned rural inn, Gintoki simply looked towards the ceiling feeling very, very bored.

Shinpachi and Kagura were busy going out to purchase some groceries for their next cheap meal. It was risky sending Kagura out to buy food instead of scarfing it all down her mouth, but they had to live on the edge sometimes.

Maybe they should have gone along with Zuko and "Team Avatar". They were probably having a better time than they were right now, working outside the cities without Shinsengumi to antagonize or a sweets shop to raid. Not to mention Shinpachi's angst over not listening to that Otsuu chick. He let drowsiness take him down into a light slumber.

Then he was rudely interrupted soon after that.

"Sakata Gintoki-san! It's time to pay the rent. If you don't wake up by the time I finish my song, I will have to break the door down."

The silhouette of a female figure was just outside the door and waited about ten seconds before starting her countdown.

"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!"

The door was then promptly blown apart.

Woken up, Gintoki fell into a surprised panic as he looked at the green-haired menace in the doorway.

"If you're happy and you know it…"

"HOLD ON ONE DAMN MINUTE!"

Finally standing and glaring at the unfazed face of the highly-advanced-ahead-of-their-time robot Tama.

"THIS IS THE SECOND GODDAMN TIME YOU'VE DONE THAT TO ME! BESIDES, WE'RE NOT EVEN IN A REAL INN, OR INSIDE BA SING SE ANYMORE! WHY THE HELL DOES THE OLD HAG STILL NEED ME TO PAY RENT?!"

Still unfazed by the man's temper, Tama replied calmly, "Because Lady Otose takes care of and has refurbished this establishment, thereby making it effectively her inn and giving her the right to charge rent for anyone in residence."

"…Damn you for making sense!"

Tama simply waited patiently as the swordsman rifled through what cash he brought along with him on their journey outside the city and, as slowly as possible out of spite, took out the necessary money to put into the waiting hands of the robotic girl.

Her prize in her possession, she made a polite bow. "Thank you very much, Gintoki-san. Have a nice day."

She made her way through the door, but stopped when the tenant in question sputtered and made a well-justified complaint.

"Wait a minute! What the hell am I supposed to do about this crappy mess you made?!"

Tama paused and looked at him, then at the destroyed door, then back to him again.

She then continued walking, completely ignoring the issue.

Gintoki looked at the empty space where she was standing and then promptly face-palmed while muttering curses under his breath.

"Seriously, if I wanted my room blown up, I would have just brought in that hot-tempered brat for an explosive redecoration."

_**:::Elsewhere:::**_

"AH-CHOOOO!"

"What's up, Sparky? You're not getting sick on us are you?"

Giving a half-hearted glare towards the smirking Toph, Zuko simply massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"No, it's just a random sneeze." _And an odd desire to give a certain silver-hair a swift kick in the shins._

Toph sat down next to Team Avatar's newest (and most awkward) member and gave him a hard but friendly punch to his shoulder.

"Well don't make a habit of it. We're not going to let one of our friends get hurt by something as puny as a cold."

Touched by her statement he still gave her a reproving glance. "Don't think that statement is going to get you off the hook for nearly getting us caught by Azula's assassin with your gambling and cheating."

"Hey! I was being sincere!"

"But you were hoping for some leeway, weren't you?"

She shrugged awkwardly and got up while giving him another friendly shoulder-punch. "Still, don't get sick and die on us, or you'll answer to me."

As she walked away, Zuko sighed and reflected on how he had been acting like the team dad during their latest troubles. Seriously, even though it was really fortunate Sokka got some sword-training and confidence, they now had a weird-ass assassin after them and had to hide more than usual lately.

Don't even get him started on how Aang revealed Avatar Roku's backstory, as well as the full story surrounding his great-grandfather Sozin's sins. Roku being his great-grandfather on his mother's side had been another shocker in addition to the confusion they had already been caught up in. Hopefully, they wouldn't get into any more trouble before they started with the invasion and finally put an end to his psychopathic father's megalomaniacal plans. His other plan for genocide on the Earth Kingdom was an unpleasant surprise when, along the way, they had snuck into a nobleman's house for additional information and got this news instead.

He couldn't help but feel that they had missed an important piece of information about the invasion by leaving in haste before listening to the rest of the conversation.

_**:::Time-Skip:::**_

They were mobilizing now. With his broadswords on his back, Zuko took in some deep calming breaths to prepare himself for this no-doubt bloody confrontation. He just hoped that everyone else would be okay both physically and mentally.

He glanced at both Katara and Aang as he contemplated and felt a stab of empathy towards them. Their most recent journey had landed them with an old woman who was also a member of the Southern Water Tribe and another reminder of the sins his country had perpetrated on the rest of the world. Katara had been very happy to find one of her kinsmen during their mission, and had been deeply wounded once they had discovered what exactly Hama had been doing with her Water-bending.

Using that terrible blood-bending technique had only added to her emotional turmoil, and Zuko felt lost since he had never known how to really respond to a situation like this or how exactly to comfort another human being.

Aang's recurring nightmares and subsequent insomnia and hallucinations had also put a dent in their morale. That he could definitely sympathize with since he had suffered plenty of sleepless nights over the years of his banishment. Of course, back then he had been tasked with capturing the Avatar so their situation now was a truly ironic turn of events.

During this inner observation, Gintoki was still in the Earth Kingdom finishing up an "easy job" which involved walking several dog-cats for a mentally-questionable young couple who needed some alone time out on the town (wherever that was).

All of these dog-cats were definitely not "obedient little angels" as advertised by the smiling, oblivious couple. Kagura and Shinpachi already had the misfortune of stepping in the crap the pets left behind.

Walking them back to the couple's house had been a bit of a challenge, but the trip back to Otose's new inn (empire) had been rather free of complaints probably due to exhaustion since they had done 3 jobs today, more than what they usually got.

On both sides of the globe, Zuko and Gintoki glanced at the sky and muttered, "I bet that idiot's having a better time than I am with this invasion/sugar withdrawal."

Let's just say they were both very lucky that no one had been standing in front of them at that particular moment.

Gazing at the sun and the moon that was about to cover it, Zuko sighed once more after massaging his nose bridge again and made his way towards the rest of the team with an inexplicable feeling of impending doom.

Sokka had given him an awkward pat on the shoulder as a way of wishing luck. Toph simply grinned at him and offered a "Stay alive, Sparky!" which made him feel marginally better. Katara ignored him (which in this situation was both a good thing and a bad thing) and Aang offered up a shaky smile as they both tensed up waiting for the invasion to get under way.

Walking a steady pace, Zuko simply said to himself, "All of us better not die from this."

Later on, when the eclipse fully reached their side of the globe, the Yorozuya trio looked up and realized what exactly was happening right now hundreds of miles thousands of miles away.

Kagura and Shinpachi both felt a sense of awe and sudden concern for their royal comrade fighting all the way over in the Fire Nation capitol.

_Zuko-san will be okay. He's tough and responsible enough for this._

_Prince Grumpy better live through this or I'm gonna barf sukonbu all over his grave._

Naturally one of them was thinking along with a much more structured thought process.

Something similar passed through the mind of their silver-haired employer as he sat down while feeling the rays of the sun being covered.

_Stay alive, kid._

Then something else promptly crossed his mind and he shifted around to yell out his thoughts.

"Hey, Granny! Looks like you're not going to get that tan you so desperately need!"

"Go to hell, you lazy bum!"

_**Fin**_

**The rest of Book Three progresses much like it did in canon though there will be a flashback or two in the next chapter. Again, I'm sorry this took so long. Please read and review!**


	16. Chapter 16

_Note: I don't own Last Airbender or Gintama. Last chapter; sorry!_

_**Please Review!**_

Chapter Sixteen: Nothing Says "Good Luck" Like Property Damage

The sun was high in the sky on this warm day as it hovered over and illuminated one particular city.

Ba Sing Se.

With the war over, much of the damage inflicted on the city's walls, land and buildings had been repaired until it looked practically brand new.

The city workings itself had remained largely unchanged as well.

People moved throughout the streets of the city as though they hadn't been conquered by the Fire Nation army and Princess in the past year. Whether this was through the resilient power of the human spirit or the natural power of human obliviousness was up for debate.

The king was back on his throne and everyone felt like things were finally becoming normal again. By normal, they meant a non-war non-Long Feng society. Given they were living in their nation's capital, normal was a very subjective term; especially given the questionable mental stability of their police forces.

Today was unnaturally sluggish in terms of business. Many shops and restaurants had a minimum of customers today and they were both thankful for a less stressful day as well as hoping this wouldn't become a trend for their businesses.

One particular business in the Upper Ring was being particularly slow in business, and it had nothing to do with the sole three customers occupying that certain shop.

"KAGURA-CHAN! VASES ARE NOT MEANT TO BE USED AS SPINNING TOPS! STOP BEFORE YOU BREAK SOMETHING IN IROH-SAN'S SHOP!"

Gintoki just shook his head while Iroh sighed as they looked on as resigned spectators taking in the sight of Shinpachi chasing Kagura who had changed her mind and decided to spin the rather well-made and beautiful vase on the tip of her finger instead of the floor.

Fortunately, Iroh learned from all of the bad luck he had run into in his long life and had the foresight to take insurance out on any objects that he owned in this establishment.

Turning to his war enemy-turned-friend, he stated something very profound.

"Zuko is probably laughing at full volume over this."

Gintoki rolled his eyes at that sentence and returned with a quip of his own.

"Didn't you once say that the Fire Lord has to be in every meeting, make all of the decisions, and sit with his back straight 24/7? If anything, I'll bet that punk is probably begging the spirits to trade places with you."

The ex-Dragon raised an eyebrow. "And have the duty of sorting out your most recent mess? I doubt it."

"Hey! That old fake-ass shogun totally had that coming! Don't tell me you wouldn't have joined in!"

"I certainly would have; I just find it hard to believe that you got involved in such a mess thanks to an elderly courtesan."

Gintoki shrugged his shoulders. "There are much weirder ways to get involved in serious s***, so that shouldn't be a problem."

His mouth curved upward into a mischievous grin.

"As I recall, you certainly didn't complain too much when we took you to Yoshiwara and you ended up colliding with that badunkadunk chick."

Cheeks slightly flushed, Iroh gave a simple cough and got his bearings back in order.

"Nevertheless, it won't due for any of us to get caught up in something even more reckless when we are still fresh out of the war."

Gintoki sighed and silently agreed with him while they sipped their tea as Shinpachi finally convinced Kagura to leave the vase alone and was now balancing on the chandelier instead.

Where that chandelier came from, no one would ever know.

The samurai turned back to the former general as Shinpachi himself simply gave up and handed 5 whole pounds worth of sukonbu to the voracious Yato girl as surrender to get her off the ceiling.

"Hey, you get any letters from Zuko recently? It's kinda worrying to leave an accident-prone kid like that alone."

Iroh privately felt that was a rather hypocritical description coming from Gintoki but decided to answer his question anyway.

"No, I haven't. It's probably not too serious if he hasn't sent for any advice. He is still in counsel with young Aang and his friends. Though…"

His expression turned depressed.

"I am not certain how well he is dealing with the imprisonments of Azula and Ozai."

Gintoki shrugged. "She's crazy, so she's got nowhere to go except for an asylum, right? Also…"

He paused and his brows furrowed in confusion.

"How did the brats beat your over-compensating brother again?"

Iroh replied "Avatar Aang utilized the ancient art of Energy-Bending to strip my brother of his own bending abilities."

"He learned this from the last living a.k.a. dirt-old Lion Turtle, right? The only being that knew about it and managed to run into the kiddy monk just before the big showdown?"

"Yes."

"…Am I the only one who thinks that was a major ass-pull? I mean, I certainly wouldn't want a 12-year-old to kill anybody, but really? That's how the kid managed to end the war?"

Iroh simply held his hands up in mock-surrender with a small smile.

"Let's just be grateful that the war is finally over. I certainly have no complaints about that. Nor do I wish to fight in such a situation ever again."

Both of their faces became solemn and Gintoki let out a very, very true statement.

"Yeah, war sucks."

_:::Flashback:::_

_The sky had become ominously red as the atmosphere of the surrounding area of Ba Sing Se became incredibly tense. In the distance, a group of people were making their way to the famous Earth Kingdom capitol with the Fire-Benders in their group feeling a great surge of power rush through their bodies as the light of Sozin's Comet blazed across the sky. This was the group known as the Order of the White Lotus._

_Another invasion force was much closer and not nearly so interested in close combat._

_When Iroh had summoned that really large-ass and ****ing-hot fireball at the city's wall, Team Yorozuya had quickly made their way into the city and proceeded to aid the Order in kicking as much ass as they possibly could._

_From Iroh's information the rest of his Order peers recognized the silver-haired man and his companions and made their own ways of helping them out._

_The general himself had immediately moved to Gintoki's side and began working back-to-back with him as most badass fighters do to lay the smack-down on the rest of the puny Fire soldiers in their way._

_Just because their fires got bigger didn't mean that their skills were up to par as well._

_Pakku and Piandao had made their way across the left with swift and skillful sword-strikes lashing out in the aftermath of powerful and swift waves of water. Bumi had immediately followed his own mad genius strategy proving that super-centenarians were just as spry and not-yet-insane as those much younger than them. Jeong-Jeong had moved his own fires skillfully in a large wave overwhelming the enemy much like Iroh's own flames._

_Cutting down nearly a dozen soldiers in succession Gintoki quickly looked around to catch a glimpse of his two young charges and where exactly they were fighting._

_He caught a glimpse of a blur of swords, knives, and fists and realized that the rest of his erratic friends in Ba Sing Se had decided to join in. Turning his head a few more times, he caught sight of something very curious._

_When he saw that it was a few men imbedded in the walls, he knew that Kagura and Shinpachi couldn't be too far ahead._

_A great spear suddenly shot out at an incredible speed, flying two feet away from Gin's face and smashing through a support beam. He looked back to see Kagura, who was obviously the thrower, and Shinpachi both looking a bit smug._

_Understandably irritated, he was about to yell when the building with the shattered support beam collapsed, falling down and stunning a group of sneaking soldiers who were then demolished by the now-aware protagonists._

_Some of the building also landed on one particular vegetable stand._

"_MY CABBAGES!"_

_Ignoring the cry of emotional pain, Gin looked to the duo now next to him and Iroh and said "Shut up." They totally were not about to say anything; really._

_Moving past the rest of the guard, the group of four made their way through the path cleared by the debris caused by Kagura's deadly throw and passed the following buildings with surprising stealth._

_Brushing off a bit of the dirt and blood on their clothes, Iroh, Gintoki, and Shinpachi were about to advance further in when they noticed Kagura wasn't with them._

"_Where the hell did that brat go?!"_

"_Kagura-chan?!"_

"_Calm down, I'm sure Miss Kagura just…"_

_Whatever Iroh was going to say to calm all of their nerves was cut off by an enemy body flying past their faces by the rebellious red-head herself._

_They turned to her as one and irritably registered her grinning face and the stick in her hand._

"_Kagura-chan! Where the hell did you run off to?!"_

_Pouting, she replied while waving the stick around, "I just wanted to get my new spear back!"_

_With a disappointed sigh she muttered clearly enough for them to hear, "The pointy part broke off, though."_

_Brightening a bit, she spit out, "But it did go through some veggies and picked up a nice snack for us!" She then thrust the stick before their faces._

_Gintoki then replied completely deadpan "Yes, I've always wanted a jalapeño on a stick. Thank you oh so much."_

_Face-palming, Shinpachi simply asked in a resigned tone "Can we please get on with the war around us now?"_

_Brought back to reality they continued their course to the center of the city knocking off some wayward enemies along the way. Even though they were making good time, they looked up at the sky and noted that the Comet was still moving __**slowly**__ through the air. Granted it didn't mean much for increasing the risk of the low-level benders they'd been plowing through but it was rather irritating and (though they didn't say so) worrisome because they didn't know how Zuko and the rest of the kids were holding up in this penultimate fire-fight._

_Making their way through one of the buildings the Shiroyasha and the Dragon of the West turned to each other._

"_I sure am glad I never fought you under these conditions."_

"_Me neither. Otherwise, my friend, we never would have met."_

_Looking a bit uncomfortable at the sentimental statement, Gin faced forward and kept moving._

"_Gin-san? The Comet doesn't seem to be moving that much."_

_Looking back up at the sky while managing to not trip running, Gin did in fact notice the sluggishness of the flaming rock sailing across the sky. Kagura looked up as well and made a very annoyed sound._

"_Wow, that thing's slower than Gin-chan on sugar-withdrawal!"_

"_Or you when you've gone an entire three hours without eating." Shinpachi quipped._

_Kagura glared while the two seniors of the group failed to hide amused smiles._

_Quickly glancing back up at the sky, Gintoki focused back on the path while muttering._

"_That is one ****ing convenient comet, appearing only twice in history and always when the chief nut-job wants to commit genocide. It doesn't help that it's way too slow to actually be a comet. Sometimes I really hate magic."_

_Iroh felt he had a point but wisely decided to say nothing and hash it out when this chaos had finally stopped._

_They then passed a ridiculous tidal wave of earth with Bumi surfing on it and cackling madly and all of them decided to keep moving forward silently._

_:::Flashback End:::_

Both men sat there silently reflecting on their experiences with war and death though faintly registering the amusing spots found in random happenstances throughout their years, both long and short.

They were interrupted when Kagura and Shinpachi both came over after their struggle had ended and waited semi-patiently for some lunch (in Kagura's case, a snack). Iroh got up and moved to prepare their meals while the Yorozuya trio sat fidgeting with Shinpachi straightening the table and making sure to place pairs of napkins under the others' noses to get the point across.

Just as Iroh was about to bring their meals to them, three sharp knocks were heard at the door. A few short seconds later, the door opened as the four occupants looked at the person entering. Their faces lit up in recognition as they took in the shaggy hair let out of the usual topknot, the bright gold eyes and large scar over his eye.

Zuko looked at his uncle and the Yorozuya with some discomfort as he realized that he had just interrupted their meal. However, before he could apologize Gintoki beat him to it.

"You skip out of a date just to see us?"

Kagura then chirped in with "King Fire-Fart!"

Fixing a glare on her, he responded "Did it take you all this time to come up with that?"

Before anything else could be said, both Iroh and Shinpachi got up and went to give Zuko a hug and handshake respectively. Gintoki simply gave him a friendly nod from his seat while Kagura got up and started buzzing with questions and statements. When Zuko seated himself next to Gin and Iroh went to make another meal, the samurai gave a nervous look over at Kagura then leaned in.

"You didn't bring Toph with you, right?"

Faintly amused by the question, he shook his head 'no' and grinned at the relieved look on the other man's face.

"How have you been doing recently, Zuko?"

Iroh stated this as he came out with the rest of the meals. Everyone else eagerly took their respective plates, digging in politely (aside from Gin and Kagura). As he finished up with his own plate, Zuko looked up at everyone else.

"It's been okay, for the most part. My father left quite a mess for me to clean but I think we've managed to sort out the worst of the issues. The same goes for the reconstruction."

Feeling a bit of discomfort talking about his work, he changed the subject.

"Has there been anything new going on in this city?"

That was the pebble that started the avalanche.

They began giving a long-winded talk about the jobs they'd been doing before they finally took up the tale of their 'rebellion' against the retired shogun.

Half-way through their talk Zuko's jaw was already hanging wide open, and when they had finally finished it up, he had simply put his head in his hands wondering if there was anything that could surprise him more.

Probably, but it would take too long to find out.

"Is this really what you get up to when I'm not around?"

"Do you really want me to answer that question?"

"Now that you mention it, no I don't."

Zuko just sighed and pretended to look composed even though he wasn't fooling anyone. After they finished their meals, put away the dishes for Iroh to do later, and sat down for some parfait (Gintoki rejoiced) the rest of them then noticed some dark circles around the Fire Lord's right eye.

"Hey, Sparks, are you feeling okay?"

He looked up at everyone giving him concerned looks.

"Yeah."

A few seconds later, "Do you think I'll be able to rule rightly?"

Exhaustion showed on his face as he looked at the rest of the group.

After a brief pause they all replied at the same time.

"Of course you will succeed, nephew."

"You can definitely do it, Zuko-san."

"Well, duh, stupid Fire-fart."

"No doubt about it, kid."

A smile stretched across his face as he bowed his head in a silent thank you.

They all then proceeded to finish their dessert and held a toast for success and a good future.

Iroh managed to talk Gin out of having Zuko drink beer with them and had him serve juice like they did for Kagura and Shinpachi.

Epilogue

Gintoki looked at the letter in his hand with some disbelief, gave a quick look at the computer screen in accusation, and turned to the two teens on his sofa lounging with some free drinks from Otose's bar.

"You won't believe what Zuko's trouble is now."

Both Kagura and Shinpachi perked up. "What?" they said simultaneously.

"Apparently, after that whole confused mess they were making about the Fire Nation colonies," he said while jerking the letter in annoyance, ", he's now enlisting his crazy sister into the task of finding their mom and maybe getting some info out of his impotent dad."

At those words, all three of the odd-jobs staff thought in unison.

_Good luck, Zuko. You are sooooo gonna need it._

_**Fin**_

**Last chapter done! Sorry about cutting it here, but I don't know how on earth I'd incorporate them into the continuing stories. One: them being there would erase all the conflict in the comics and cut the plot short. Two: they'd be old in The Legend of Korra and they're not going to end up moving all the way to Republic City. Also, guess where I got the "badunkadunk" and "jalapeño" jokes from. Sorry the epilogue was so short. Thank you all for reading! Please review!**


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